CIHM 
Microfiche 
Series 
(IMonographs) 


ICIVIH 

Collection  de 
microfiches 
(monographles) 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microraproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  da  microraproductions  historiq 


uas 


^^^  •■/«:  i-  '~%-''^ 


'f 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes  /  Notes  techniques  et  bibllographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best  original 
copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this  copy  which 
may  be  bibliographically  unique,  which  may  alter  any  of 
the  Images  in  the  reproduction,  or  which  may 
significantly  change  the  usual  method  of  filming  are 
checked  below. 


D 


Coloured  covers  / 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I   Covers  damaged  / 


Couverture  endommagSe 


□   Covers  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Couverture  restaur^e  et/ou  pellicuide 

Cover  title  missing  /  Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps  /  Carles  g^ographiques  en  couleur 

□   Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)  / 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

□   Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations  / 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material  / 
Reli4  avec  d'autres  documents 

Only  edition  available  / 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion  along 
inferior  margin  /  La  reliure  serr6e  peut  causer  de 
I'ombre  ou  de  la  distorsion  le  long  de  la  marge 
int^rieure. 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restorations  may  appear 
within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these  have  been 
omitted  from  filming  /  II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages 
blanches  ajout^es  lors  d'une  restauration 
apparaissent  dans  le  texte,  mais,  lorsque  cela  ^tait 
possible,  ces  pages  n'ont  pas  i\6  f  ilm^es. 

Additional  comments  / 
Commentaires  supp!6mentaires: 


a 

D 


D 


n 


This  item  Is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checlied  below  / 

Ce  document  est  lUmi  au  taux  d«  riduetten  Indiqu^  ci-dessous. 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire  qu'il  lui  a 
i\6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details  de  cet  exem- 
plaire qui  sont  peut-6tre  uniques  du  point  de  vue  bibli- 
ographique,  oui  peuvent  nfiodifier  une  image  reproduite. 
ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une  modification  dans  la  mdtho- 
de  normale  de  filmage  sont  indqu^s  ci-dessous. 

I     I  Coloured  pages  /  Pages  de  couleur 

I I   Pages  damaged  /  Pages  endommag6es 


D 


Pages  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Pages  restaur^es  et/ou  pellicul^es 


0   Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed  / 
Pages  d^colordes,  tachet^es  ou  piqu^es 

I     I   Pages  detached  /  Pages  d6tach6es 

1^1   Showthrough  /  Transparence 

I      I   Quality  of  print  varies  / 


D 
D 


D 


Quality  in^gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material  / 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppl^mentaire 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata  slips, 
tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  totalement  ou 
partiellement  obscurcles  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une 
pelure,  etc.,  ont  i[6  film^es  k  nouveau  de  fa9on  k 
obtenir  la  moilleure  image  possible. 

Opposing  pages  with  varying  colouration  or 
discolourations  are  filmed  twice  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  s'opposant  ayant  des 
colorations  variables  ou  des  decolorations  sont 
film^es  deux  fois  afin  d'obtenir  la  meilleure  image 
possible. 


I 

lOx 

14x 

18x 

22x 

26x 

30x 

1 

J 

i 

12x            16x           20x            24x            28x            32x 

» 

.^^^aK»r^.^J>^-W*:^-^^|S«i8RiK^^ 


Th«  copy  filmed  h«r«  hu  b—n  raproducad  thanks 
to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


L'axamplaira  filmi  fut  raproduit  grica  I  la 
gin«rosit*  da: 

Bibliotheque  nationals  du  Canada 


Tha  imagaa  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possibia  considaring  tha  condition  and  lagibitity 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  apacifications. 


Original  copias  in  printod  papar  covara  ara  filmad 
baginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impraa- 
sion.  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copias  »f  filmad  baginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impraa- 
sion,  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illustratad  imprassion. 


Tha  last  racordad  frama  on  aach  microficha 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  ^^  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  V  (moaning  "END"), 
whichavar  applias. 

Maps,  platas.  charts,  ate,  may  ba  filmad  at 
diffarant  reduction  ratios.  Thosa  too  larga  to  ba 
antiraly  included  in  ona  axposura  ara  filmad 
baginning  in  tha  uppar  laft  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  images  suivantas  ont  *t*  raproduitas  avac  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
da  la  neneti  de  lexemplaira  filmA,  et  an 
conformity  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Lea  axemplairaa  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimie  sont  filmAs  an  commancant 
par  la  premier  plet  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
darni^re  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainte 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  eas.  Tous  las  autras  axemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmAs  an  commancant  par  la 
pramiAre  page  qui  comporta  une  emprainte 
d'impreasion  ou  d'illustration  at  en  terminant  par 
la  derniire  paga  qui  comporta  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
darniire  image  de  cheque  microficha,  salon  la 
cas:  le  symbols  — ^>  signifie  "A  SUIVRE".  le 
symbols  ▼  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartas,  planches,  tableaux,  etc..  peuvant  etre 
filmAs  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diff Grants. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  atra 
raproduit  an  un  seul  clichi,  il  est  filmA  d  partir 
de  Tangle  supirieur  gauche,  de  gauche  ^  droite. 
at  de  haut  en  bas.  en  prenant  la  nombra 
d'images  nicessaira.  Las  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mOthode. 


1 

2 

3 

1  2  3 

4  5  6 


fJi^>W^l^J^ 


MICROCOPY   RESOLUTION   TEST   CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No    2) 


145 

150 


LIP 


1 2.5 
2.2 

i.8 


A  APPLIED  IM^GE     Inr 

^7'.  '653   East   Mo.n   SIrcet 

S^iS  Rochester.   New   York        M609       USA 

-—  (716)    48i  -  0300  -  Phone 

^S  (716)   288  -  5989  -  fox 


n-'v. 


: 


f)art.  Htbaffnrr  &  fRuvj: 
Pti?t  Economic  (Cstfaps 


^Uufk*"^^^  OF  THE  PANIC  OF 


1893. 


INDUSTRIAL    EDUCATION. 
rti.D, 


By  William  J. 
By  Harlow  Stafford  Penoo, 


"a'l5fr°Hl{^^!:.r  ^^  '♦*"-^*^  •''^^«-     Br  Al. 

'"^^^^^l^i  Mrri^nS."T»l''S„^„°'r'  ^"-^ 
Imlc'"""'  *  '='"^'"'-  *''*'-^='S'  ByO-  !>•  Skehon. 
'TGi!b'y^L.*S,Kl.*s'^°  ""^"'  'COMPENSATION. 

^"pioVL^E^°oV'°AM°E%t-<irvwj.^v.xi^-'- 

THE    NAVIGABLE   RHINE.    B,  Edwin  J.  CUpp. 

SOCIAL  VALUE.    Br  B.  M.  Anderwn,  J,. 
FREIGHT  CLASSIFICATION.     By  J.  F.  Stronbeck. 
%;S^'    '"^"5     «*'^WAYS.     By   Harold  Glenn 
^»n  H.W°''  °''S*'^'«0  SPECULATION.     By  Harri- 
'rD"Dl'N*^/R°s"<=*B;'X„'L^  Zt!''""-  """°°5 

'^lerTUf?;?.%"„-7KrinS^*^h."'^^°''^  "°- 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 
Boston  and  Nhw  York 


;  >.    .■<  '■' , 


^M^''W.^■JJ^'J;^^!m^k^i^f^\ 


^Mi,  *c?afftt«  e  (jnarx  ^xv^t  (Sbba^b 


VI 


SOCIALISM:  A  CRITICAL  ANALYSIS 


i 


i£flLiiil<jM4^^Bji»!yMM.Mlllritf>i  WfFli    '    ' »Ul^^m^^\Jj' 


SOCIALISM 

A  CRITICAL  ANALYSIS 


BT 


O.  D.  SKELTON,  Ph.D. 

BIB  JOHN  A.  MACDONALD  PROt^BSOR  OF  POLITICAL  BCIXNCB 
queen's  UNIVERSITT,  KINGBTON,  CANADA 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 


-•'r-.:;: 


V  r 


COPVHIOHT,   191,,   BV  HART,  SCHAFrN.R  »  uAnX 
ALL  RIGHTS  RBSRRVBO 
Publisktd  Ftbruary  igii 


0  920821 


-  -  ^^r^^^S^^*^'^'^^-'^ 


tmiimJmF%LjJLij^ 


1 


PREFACE 


This  series  of  books  owes  its  existence  to  the  generosity  of 
Messrs.  Hart,  Schaffner,  and  Marx,  of  Chicago,  who  have 
shown  a  special  interest  in  trying  to  draw  the  attention  of 
American  youth  to  the  study  of  economic  and  commercial 
subjects,  and  to  encourage  the  best  thinking  of  the  country 
to  investigate  the  problems  which  vitally  aflfect  the  busi- 
ness world  of  to-day.  For  this  purpose  they  have  delegated 
to  the  undersigned  Committee  the  task  of  selecting  topics, 
making  all  announcements,  and  awarding  prizes  annually 
for  those  who  wish  to  compete. 

In  the  year  ending  June  1,  1908,  the  following  topics 
were  assigned: 

1.  An  examination  into  the  economic  causes  of  large 
fortunes  in  this  country. 

2.  The  history  of  one  selected  railway  system  in  the 
United  States. 

3.  The    untouched   agricultural    resources   of    North 
America. 

4.  Resumption  of  specie  payments  in  1879. 

6.  Industrial  combinations  and  the  financial  collapse  of 
1903. 

6.  The  case  against  socialism. 

7.  Causes  of  the  rise  of  prices  since  1898. 

8.  Should  inequalities  of  wealth  be  regulated  by  a  pro- 
gressive income  tax? 

9.  The  effect  of  the  industrial  awakening  of  Asia  upon 
the  economic  development  of  the  West. 


^  PREFACE 

,10.  The  causes  of  tlic  recent  rise  in  the  price  of  silver. 

11.  The  relation  of  an  elastic  bank  currency  to  bank 
credits  in  an  ciuergeacy. 

12.  A  just  and  practicable  method  of  taxing  railway 
property. 

A  6rst  prize  of  one  thousand  dollars,  and  a  second  prize 
of  five  hundred  dollars,  in  cash,  were  offered  for  the  best 
studies  presented  by  Class  A,  composed  exclusively  of  all 
persons  who  had  received  the  bachelor's  degree  from  an 
American  college  in  1896,  or  thereafter. 
The  present  volume  was  awarded  the  first  prize. 

Professor  J.  Laurence  LxuomjN, 

Univeraity  oj  Chicago,  Chairman. 
Professor  J.  B.  Clark, 

Columbia  Univeraity. 
Professor  Henry  C.  Adams, 
Univeraity  of  Michigan. 
Horace  White,  Esq., 
New  York  City. 
Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright, 
Clark  College. 


ii;*r  ^ 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

Introduction 

Definition  of  socialigm  u  indictment,  analysis,  panacea,  cam- 
paign.  —  Survey  of  socialist  systems,  ancient  an.l  medieval, 
eighteenth-century  speculation  and  nineteenth-century  Uto- 
pianism;  the  significance  of  Marx 


1-15 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Sociaust  Indictment 

Causes  of  the  success  of  socialist  agitation:  the  psychology  of 
„n^gt. —  The  counts  in  the  inJiotment  against  capitalism: 
gap  between  private  profit  and  social  gain,  competitive  waste, 
crises,  commercial  and  financial  fraud,  ugliness  of  modem 
wares;  pitiable  condition  of  workmen,  wage-slavery,  danger 
and  uncertainty  of  employment,  unfair  division  of  product, 
housing  and  mortality  evils,  ethical  consequences;  instance 
of  more  extreme  denunciawion 16-40 


CHAPTER  m 

The  Indictment  Considered 

Exaggeration  and  lack  of  perspective  of  the  socialist  criticism. 
Failure  to  recognize  strong  points  of  the  competitive  system. 
Where  grievances  are  real,  indictment,  directed  against  myth- 
ical extreme  individualism,  ignores  remedial  activities  inherent 
in  present  social  organization:  r61e  of  the  state,  the  employer, 
and  the  trade  union.  —  Standards  of  distribution  and  of  con- 
sumption; moral  responsibilities  of  competition;  fallacy  of 
throwing  whole  responsibility  for  individual  ills  on  social 
institutions;  impossibility  of  a  flawless  order 41-fll 


^ 


=T.  -■»*«*— ^-- 


^  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  IV 

Utopian  Socialism 
I.  The  Utopian  analysis:  origin  of  .ocial  w«,ng  in  ignorance 

Mmon.  II  The  Ltopmn  .deal:  autonomous  community  or 
state  organization  of  industry;  detailed  proposals.  IlT.  xL 
Utopian  tact.cs:  peaceful  persuasion  of  all  classes  alike  and 
community  experiment;  the  failure  and  its  .masons  .  62.94 

CHAPTER  V 

The   Marxian  Analysis:    L  The  Materialistic 
Conception  of  History 
Importance  of  doctrine  in  Marxian  system;  advance  in  histor- 

d.Ktnne.  -  Two  .nterpretations  of  the  Hoctriue.  first  strcs^ 
In?  ^"""'°"  '^-ditions.- Criticism  of  both  tcr- 


tuons 


95-l\4 


CHAPTER   VI 

The  Marxian  Analysis:  II.  Value  and  Surp^cs 
Value 
The  class  struggle  revealed  by  the  materialistic  conception  of 
in^T  ^''^^'°™•  '"  '^-Pital^tic  era.  of  struggle  K  ween 
cap.tal.st  and  proletarian.  -  Mechanism  of  fpitailst T 
^.tat.on  explained  by  theory  of  surplus  value  wCagaTn 
-ts  on  labor  theory  of  value;  untenabllity  of  both  thLS      115-136 

CHAPTER  vn 

The  Marxian  Analysis:  HI.  Law  of  Capitaust 
Development 
Forecast  of  capitalist  development,  based  on  surplus-value  ex- 
plo.tat.on.  and  leading  inevitably  to  breakdo^  of  capita^- 
>sm  and  estabhshment  of  s<H:ialism.  -  Formation  of  InT- 


CONTENTS  ix 

trial  reserve  army;  increasing  misery  of  workers;  concentra- 
tion of  industry  and  centralization  of  wealth;  crises.  —  Break- 
down and  revisionist  abandonment  of  the  theory     ....  187-178 


CIL\PTER  Vin 

The  Modern  Socialist  Ideal 

Socialist  reticence  regarding  positive  proposals;  its  causes.  — 
Expropriation  or  purchase;  unit  of  organization;  possibility 
and  consistency  of  variety  in  organization;  selection  of  the  ad- 
ministration, allotment  of  work,  regulation  of  output;  stand- 
ards of  distribution,  maintenance  of  cQSciency  ;  marriage  and 
population  problems   .    .         177-219 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Modern  Movement 

Aggressive  tactics  of  post-Utopian  socialism ;  policy  of  force, 
activity  of  the  International.  —  Rise  of  national  movements; 
survey  of  the  most  significant  developments.  —  Germany, 
the  environment,  evolution  in  tictics  and  in  attitude  on  chief 
current  issues.  —  France,  the  environment,  drift  toward  op- 
portunism, rise  and  significance  of  syndicalism.  — The  general 
Continental  situation.  —  The  United  Kingdom,  the  environ- 
ment, characteristics,  and  strength  of  the  different  sections.  — 
The  United  States,  causes  of  slow  progress  and  recently  in- 
creasing strength,  opportunist  control.  —  Canadian  situation. 
—  The  general  outlook 220-811 

BiBLIOGBAPnT 313 

Index 823 


'^ii.ttik 


.^.2^ 


T 


SOCIALISM:  A  CRITICAL  ANALYSIS 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

Few  movements  have  been  more  widely  discussed  and 
at  the  same  time  more  vaguely  defined  than  sociabsm. 
The  movements  to  which  the  term  appUes  have  been  so 
diverse  m  starting-point  and  in  goal,  so  variously  colored 
by  individual  experience  and  social  environment,  that  the 
common  element  is  often  difficult  to  discern.    Socialism 
has  always  been  an  opposition  policy,  and,  as  is  the  way 
with  oppositions,  under  its  banner  have  marched  the  most 
motley  forces,  at  one  chiefly  in  that  all  were  passionately 
protesting  against  Things  as  They  Are.  It  has  not  yetbeen 
codified  and  delimited  by  the  actuaUties  of  office.   It  is  a 
living  movement,  changing  insensibly  with  every  change 
in  the  mental  horizon  or  material  conditions  of  the  time, 
and  so  impossible  to  label  with  the  cheerful  finahty  with 
which  the  scientist  treats  a  paleolithic  fossil.  The  signi- 
ficance of  the  term  is  still  further  clouded  by  its  frequent 
use  as  a  bogey  with  which  to  ward  off  any  assault  whatever 
on  vested  rights  or  vested  wrongs  —though  serviceability 
for  this  scarecrow  function  is  happily  declining  —  and 
by  the  counter-tendency,  wherever  disrepute  gives  place  to 
vogue,  of  sundry  well-meaning  sentimentalists  to  adopt 
the  label  to  denote  their  half-baked  yearnings. 

Definiteness  may  most  easily  be  given  the  conception 
by  considering  it  in  its  relation  to  the  existing  industrial 
system,  which  socialists  are  wont  to  summarize  as  capital- 
ism. This  relation  presents  four  main  aspects,  which  may 
be  noted  briefly. 


*  SOCIAUSM 

Socialism  is  in  the  first  place  an  indictment  of  any  and 

SrThe^'^^T  '""^  ''^  P"^^*^  ^^^^y  -^  eo- 
det  Mn  n  7"  '"""'''•'  "'^"^  ^""'^y  ^'^d  ^itl^  unsparing 
det  il.  m  ponderous  treatise  and  fleeting  pamphlet  through 

party  organs  and  on  party  platforms.  ^Day 'a^ay  and 
week  after  week  vigorously  edited  journals  keep  up  a 
running  fire  on  every  weak  spot  of  capitaUsm.  Night  after 

TeZZtr  '''^:  Tr  ^^^^-^^  o-tors  tndem: 
the  existing  order  root  u^d  branch.    It  is  judged  by  its 

fruits,  and  its  fruits  are  charged  to  be  waste  Ld  ^chJ^ 
ness  and  want.  All  is  for  the  worst  in  this  worst  oT^ssiWe' 
worlds:  pnvate  property  and  devil-take-the-hindmorhave 
SstSre"  ''-''''  -  ^^^^^-  foundation  trt: 

?escrTbed    Thf"  "  ^""^'^^1''''  ^"^  '''  P^^^*  --ki"g 
described.    This  analysis  is  undertaken  with  very  different 

sTonrvLr^l^r^  "'^"'"^  philosophical  prept's! 
of  an  C'    ^°-^'  ^•*°P'''^  ^"^^"^  '"  tJ»^  benevolence 
o   the  wo^'f  '"*^"*"°^  ^"^  *^«  P->^dained  harmony 
Of  the  world,  ,t  seems  necessary  to  account  for  the  wide 
divergence  between  design  and  reahty.  To  the  more  reSnl 
thinker    saturated  with  Hegelian  or  Darwinian  co^'p 
t  on«  of  development,  scientific  discussion  inevitabrmn; 
m  terms  of  final  goal  or  of  origins.   Whatever  the  l^l 
point   this  phase  of  the  subject  is  rai^ly  lacking  ifal 
fully  developed  socialistic  system.  ^ 

From  a  third  view-point  socialism  presents  a  substitute 
for  capitahsm.   More  or  less  in  detail,  according  as  th^ 
retical  or  tactical  exigencies  necessitate,  eveiy^  soc  aS 

if  to  "be  ^^-^  ''r  'ff  r ^^^^^'^'^  commonwealth  tt 
IS  to  be.  The  Ideal  of  the  future  of  course  varies  with  the 

analysis  of  the  present;  prescription  follows  dk^o  fs 
But.  neglecting  minor  variations,  socialism  in  this  Snect 
may  be  defined  as  the  demand  for  collective  owneS 
and  utilization  of  the  me  ns  of  production  and  for  S 


^^m^ 


INTRODUCTION 


8 


bution  of  the  social  dividend  in  accordance  with  some 
principle  of  justice. 

Finally,  socialism  involves  a  campaign  against  capital- 
ism. Here  variation  is  at  the  maximum.  The  tactics 
adopted  have  taken  many  forms,  peaceful  persuasion  and 
armed  revolt,  parliamentarism  and  syndicalism,  experi- 
menting with  "duodecimo  editions  of  the  New  Jerusalem" 
and  waiting  for  capitalism  to  dig  its  own  grave.  In  each 
ease  the  tactics  in  the  campaign  bear  a  necessary  relation 
to  the  theoretical  analysis  consciously  or  unconsciously 
adopted  and  to  the  industrial  and  racial  environment. 

In  each  of  these  aspects — indictment,  analysis,  panacea, 
campaign  —  socialism  is  intelligible  only  as  the  antithesis 
of  the  competitive  system.   It  has  followed  private  pro- 
perty like  its  shadow,    in  every  great  period  of  social  re- 
adjustment, where  in  the  shifting  of  economic  foundations 
and  the  decay  of  traditional  moral  restraints  an  untram- 
meled  individualism  temporarily  asserts  itself,  we  find  an 
inevitable  socialist  reaction.    Since  it  is  within  the  past 
century  or  two,  the  period  since  what  is  called  preem- 
inently the   Industrial  Revolution,   that    the   economic 
motive  has  most  widely  dominated  men's  activities  the 
world  over,  and  that  within  the  economic  field  the  spirit 
of  individuaUsm  has  had  freest  play,  it  is  within  this  same 
period  that  socialism  has  reached  fullest  and  clearest  de- 
velopment.   Accordingly,  the  present  discussion  will  be 
confined   to   those  post-eighteenth   century   systems   of 
socialism  which  alone  have  important  significance  from 
cither  the  practical  or  the  theoretical  viewpoint.    It  may 
be  well,  however,  in  making  a  preliminary  survey  of  the 
various  socialist  systems,  to  include  a  brief  reference  to 
some  of  the  more  characteristic  of  the  earlier  develop- 
ments, chiefly  to  bring  the  later  theories  into  clearer  relief. 

It  is  to  Greece  that  we  owe  the  first  of  the  long  series 
of  Utopian  romances  from  which  socialism  derived  much 
of  its  early  inspiration.    Plato,  weary  of  that  bare-faced 


li   ! 


I;   : 
l  : 


I  i: 


*  SOCLiUSM 

use  of  political  power  for  class  gain  which  gave  Greek 
civic  strife  its  peculiar  Corcyran  fury,  sought  refuge  in 
a  dream  city  where  conflict  of  social  and  individual  interest 
would  be  impossible.    The   ideal  which  he  sketched  in 
"The  Republic"  was  an  aristocratic  and  qualified  com- 
munism. It  was  to  be  a  communism  for  the  ruling  classes 
only;  the  lower  strata,  farmers,  craftsmen,  and  slaves, 
apparently  were  to  remain  under  the  regime  of  private 
property.  It  was  from  the  ruling  classes  alone  that  it  was 
important  to  remove  the  temptations  which  the  clash  of 
self-interest  afforded;  they  must  be  made  true  watchdogs, 
rather  than  wolves  devouring  the  flock.   Indeed,  in  one 
aspect  this  Platonic  communism  involves  hardly  more 
than  the  substitution  of  a  paid  and  specialized  civil  serv- 
ice  for  government  as  the  by-product  of  predatory  loot.* 
It  was  a  communism  of  consumption  alone;  the  governed 
classes,  by  whose  contributions  the  rulers  were  to  be  main- 
tained, continued  to  produce  their  wealth  in  competitive 
fashion.  It  was  a  communism  of  renunciation  rather  than 
of  enjoyment,  an  "equal  abrogation  of  material  goods  for 
the  sake  of  that  ideal  happiness  which  comes  from  the 
fulfillment  of  function."  *  It  was  a  communism — or  rather 
a   common    renunciation,    almost   ascetic,    of   separate 
"ownership"  —  of  wives  and  children  as  well  as  of  goods, 
for  Plato  recognized  more  clearly  than  many  later  critics 
of  society  that  family  interest  rather  than  individual  self- 
interest  is  the  chief  motive  to  competitive  activity.  Such 
in  essence  was  that  visioned  state  which  was  destined  to 
inspire  countless  successors,  none  of  them,  except  More's 
dream,  approaching  their  model  in  its  literary  quality  and 
its  piercing,  if  partial,  insight. 

Rome  contributes  Uttle  either  to  aspiration  or  to  agita- 
tion on  socialistic  lines,  the  so-called  Agrarian  Communism 
of  the  Gracchi  being  in  reality  a  movement  for  redistri- 

"  Barker,  Political  Thought  of  Plato  and  AristoOe,  o.  141 
*  IM.,  p.  138. 


1 


^■^;*i■'.' 


INTBODUCnON  « 

bution  of  private  property  rather  than  for  its  abolition. 
The  third  great  source  of  our  modern  civihzation,  Judea, 
is  more  significant.  The  radicalism  markedly  frequent  m 
the  Jewish  race -the  race  of  the  Marxes  and  Lassalles. 
as  well  as  of  the  Rothschilds  —  finds  expression  m  the 
prophets'  denunciation  of  injustice  and  inequality,  and 
in   the   paper   provision   for   the   Jubilee   redistribution 
ascribed  to  Moses.   The  same  eager  sympathy  with  the 
losers  in  life's  battle  continues  under  the  gospel  dispensa- 
tion: the  poor  are  exalted,  the  "criminal  rich"  denounced, 
the   sharing  of  goods  straitly  enjoined,  and   millennia 
visions  of  a  new  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth  where  social 
as  well  as  religious  wrongs  should  be  righted  gam  sway. 
But  nowhere  did  charity  pass  into  thoroughgoing  com- 
munism; and  after  the  first  flush  of  enthusiasm  faded, 
growing  worldHness  repressed  millenniahsm  as  heretical, 
and  divorced   heaven  and  earth.    Among  the  Christian 
fathers  we  continue  to  find  denunciations  of  the  rich  and 
of  the  institution  of  private  property  as  violent  as  those  of 
any  Hyde  Park  ranter  of  to-day, »  but  no  thought  exists 
that  the  primitive  condition  of  equality  may  be  restored: 

I  Cf  St  Basil:  "  But  I  ask  you  what  U  it  that  you  call  yours?  From 
whom  have  you  received  it?  You  act  like  a  man  in  a  theatre,  who  hastens 
to  seize  all  the  seats  and  prevent  the  others  from  entering,  keepmg  for 
his  own  use  what  is  meant  for  all.  How  do  the  rich  become  nch.  save  by 
seizure  of  those  things  which  belong  to  all?  ...  The  earth  «  Pven  in 
common  to  all  men.  Let  no  man  call  that  his  own  which  has  been  taken 
in  excess  of  his  needs  from  a  common  store.  ...  The  bread  whjch  you 
keep  back  is  the  bread  of  the  hungry:  the  garment  you  shut  up  belongs 
tothenaked."  — Opera,  in,  492;  II.  7«5-«6. 

St.  Ambrose:  "Nature  has  made  all  things  common  for  the  use  of  aU. 
Nature  made  common  right,  usurpation  made  pnvate  right.    — 

i)e  b#c.,  I.  chap.  28.  ,  , 

St.  John  Chrvsostom:  "The  nch  man  IS  a  thief.        .  .         ,        . 

St  Gregory'"  When  we  share  with  those  who  are  m  need,  we  do  not 
give  them  what  belongs  to  us  but  what  belongs  to  them.  It  is  not  a  work 
of  grace  but  the  payment  of  a  debt." 

Quoted  in  Lecky,  Democracy  and  Liberty,  pp.  232  seq.  and  Villegardelle. 
Histmre  de»  idSes  sorialistes  arant  la  revolution  Jraniaise,  pp.  71  seq. 


ll 


l( 


«  SOCULISM 

it  is  meant  merely  to  extort  from  the  rich  the  ransom  of 
generous  alms.   Gradually  the  monasteries  segregate  and 
sterilize  those  elements  in  which  material  self-seeking  is 
weakest,  or  spiritual  self-seeking  strongest. 
^   Towards  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages  strong  commun- 
istic tendencies  appeared  in  the  popular  movements  ex- 
cited  by  religious  revolt  and  economic  disorganization 
Among  Wychf's  poor  priests  and  the  Lollards,  among 
Hussites  and  Taborites,  in  the  Peasants'  War.  and  the 
Anabaptist  Movement,  with  its  spectacular  culmination 
m  the  reign  of  the  saints  in  MUnster,  and  in  the  countless 
minor  fanatical  outbursts  of  the  time,  the  vision  arose  of 
a  perfected  social  order  in  the  coming  millennial  kingdom. 
Religious  and  social  aspirations  were  inextricably  inter- 
twined.»   Sometimes  the  communistic  doctrine  or  experi- 
ment was  due  to  the  leaven  of  eariy  Christian  influence; 
sr  Tietimes  to  a  harking  back  to  the  primitive  communism,' 
then  rapidly  disintegrating,  of  the  old  village  or  mark 
unit;  sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  MUnster's  brief  experi- 
ence of  community  of  goods  and  legalized  polygamy,  to 
the  abnormal  pressure  of  a  state  of  siege.  Throughout,  it 
is  still  a  communism  of  the  imperfect  type,  of  consumption 
goods  alone,  and  differs  widely  from  modern  developments 
m  Its  mysticism  and  asceticism.   But  it  marks  a  stage  of 
advance  towards  the  later  forms  in  that  it  is  an  aggressive 
proletarian   movement,   not   a   passive   and    unpolitical 
acceptance. 

This  aggressive  note  particulariy  characterizes  the 
revolutionary  outbursts  of  Lilburne  and  the  Ler-lers  in 
the  days  of  the  Long  Parhament.    So  far  as  England  was 

•  '  '"^^P"!'^'™'  anfJ  economic  aspirations  of  the  democracies,  espe- 
cially of  the  German  cities,  called  forth  by  the  pressure  of  circumstances 
readily  and  naturally  clothed  themselves  in  a  religious  or  theological 
garb,  whilst  the  nJigious  aspirations  themselves  seemed  to  demand 
political  and  economic  revolutions  as  the  conditions  of  their  fulfillment  " 
—  Bax,  Ri.ie  and  Fall  of  the  AnahaptUts,  pp.  166-167. 


W^ 


INTRODUCTION  T 

concerned,  however,  no  practical  movement  of  socialistic 
tendencies  was  to  attain  importance  until  centuries  later. 
Her  main  contribution  to  communistic  development  in 
this  epoch  lay  rather  m  the  field  of  hterary  romance,  in 
giving  to  the  world  that  vision  of  a  perfect  communistic 
commonwealth  which  so  far  surpassed  its  later  rivals,  such 
as  Campanella's  "City  of  the  Sun,"  and  Bacon's  "New 
Atlantis,"  that  it  has  given  its  name  to  the  whole  school. 
"  With  the '  Utopia,' "  declares  the  foremost  exponent  of  the 
scientific  socialism  of  to-day,  "  modern  socialism  begins."* 
Thomas  More,  writing  in  sixteenth-century  England,  with 
its  dawning  capitalism,  its  agriculture  rapidly  beuig  trans- 
formed from  a  Uvelihood  to  a  profit  basis,  its  growing 
rural  proletariat  dispossessed  to  make  room  for  sheep,' 
marks  a  new  stage.  While  the  "Utopia"  even  less  than 
"The  Republic"  is  meant  to  convey  a  serious  programme 
of  practical  reform,  it  is  significant  of  the  awakening  forces 
that  even  in  fancy  a  responsible  and  normally  conservative 
statesman  could  advocate  such  heroic  treatment  for  the 
evils  surging  about  him.  More's  condemnation  of  private 
property  is  out-and-out.  His  remedy  is  equally  thorough- 
going, —  absolute  control  of  production  by  the  state.  The 
communism  of  Utopia  is  not  a  voluntary  and  sporadic 
development,  but  state-controlled  and  state- wide;  for  the 
Tudor  Minister,  the  extension  of  state  powers  had  few 
terrors.  The  problems  which  every  socialist  state-builder 
since  has  felt  it  his  duty  to  solve,  the  problems  of  popula- 
tion and  marriage,  of  hours  of  labor,  of  the  use  of  money, 
of  a  possible  decreased  productiveness,  are  faced  frankly 
and  discussed  with  a  quaint  ingenuity  and  a  broad  human 
sympathy  which  have  made  "the  golden  book  of  Thomas 

«  Kautsky,  Vorldufer  des  neueren  Sozialismus,  p.  466. 

•  "Your  shepe  that  were  wont  to  be  so  meke  and  tame  and  so  amal 
eaters,  as  I  heare  saye,  be  become  so  great  devourers  and  so  wylde  that 
they  eat  up  and  swallow  doune  the  very  men  themselfes." — More,  Uto- 
pia (ed.  Arber),  p.  41. 


'4 


■  ^ii^''^'^^  <>^, 


■'M':.- 


Zfmi^^r-^.- 


a 


SOCIAIJSM 


f 


j 


ff 


assault.  Throughout  the  F«„ch  ,^u  1„  „,  ,heXr 

was  sociaust  m  Its  essence.   I'lausihilitv  J«  lo„*  *u- 
tion  by  the  long  list  of  violenHua^  onTJ^^Z 
mequahty  which  can  be  culled  fron,  almost  dltC^Jt's 
of  the  radical  movement.  But  taking  these  attacks  17/^ 
proper  proportion  to  the  general  theory  of  tSautlor 

.  wntmg  of  the  time,  it  seems  more  tenable  that  thl 

the  most  part  vague,  sporadic,  and  far  from  forming  I 

m  wbch  he  r^ogmzes  property  as  at  worst  a^'nec"::^' 

to  der: %[uTs  It  !'37-'7'l  -  P'ot  of  ^und.  took  thought 
hin>.  wa.  the  real  forde'r  oTciv  r^lrH  ''"'''''  ""'''''  '"^  ^"'- 
murders,  how  much  misery  and  horrrr^u^  T''"^  '"'''''  '^"^  ^"d 
race  if  some  one.  teariTc  d'^  th  v^l  '"T.^''""  ^P*'""''  "'«  human 
cried  to  his  fellow^rwaZf  t^nW  t'  "m'.'  ""^  ""  ^''^  '''*<^''-  ''»d 


t^I^r>^^':M 


1 


INTRODUCTION  • 

evil,  and  by  the  moderation  of  his  practical  pro()osal.s, 
pronounce  him  a  conservative.'  While  the  luttt'r  jiul^jment 
is  doubtless  the  sounder,  it  must  \yv  recognized  tiiat  he 
inspired  an  attitude  of  revolt  and  provided  an  arsenal  of 
revolutionary  phrases  which  served  later  to  carry  the  doc- 
trine far  Ix'yond  the  bounds  at  which  he  himself  hesitated. 
Even  in  the  writers  who  arc  usually  recognized  as  defin- 
itely socialistic,  their  speculation  on  economic  (juestions 
is  as  a  rule  subordinate  and  incidental  to  the  attack  on 
absolutism  in  church  and  state  which  was  the  main  task 
of  the  radical  wing  of  eighteenth-century  speculation.' 
Meslier,  cure  and  atheist,  connecting  link  between  John 
Ball  and  Bakounine,  in  that  remarkable  posthumous 
"Testament"  in  which  he  poured  out  his  bitter  pent-up 
hatred  of  all  that  was  orthodox  and  powerful  in  his  day, 
brings  in  his  attack  on  the  economic  order  as  an  indictment 
against  the  Christianity  which  sanctioned  its  abuses. 
Morelly,  the  most  systematic  and  constructive  of  eight- 
eenth-century socialists,  sets  before  himself  "this  excellent 
problen),  how  to  find  a  situation  in  v'  it  would  be 

practically  impossible  for  man  to  be  wickt  .r  depraved."  * 
Concluding  that  private  projjerty  is  responsible  for  all 
man's  ills,*  he  finds  the  remedy  in  common  property  and 
draws  up  an  elaborate  code  for  regimenting  all  society  — 
every  citizen  a  state  functionary,  with  education,  trade, 

>  "  Far  from  being  an  advocate  of  communism.  Rousseau  was  unable 
to  conceive  of  society  without  property." — Sudre,  Ilutoire  du  Commun- 
isme,  p.  219.  Cf.  conflic'ling  opinions  in  Lichtenberger,  Le  Socialiame  au 
xviii'  sivcle,  pp.  128  scq. 

'  "  I'p  to  quite  recent  times  scx-ial  thinking  and  theorizing  .  .  .  may 
be  called  a  by-pr(Hlurt  in  the  lalwratory  of  the  philosopher  or  the  theo- 
logian." —  Guthrie,  Slocialium  before  the  French  Rerolution,  p.  202. 

•  Lichtenberger,  op.  cit.,  p.  83. 

*  Code  de  la  Nature,  p.  14. 

'  ".Analyse  vanity,  conceit,  pride,  ambition,  fraud,  hypocrisy,  profli- 
gacy, even  the  greater  numlier  of  our  sophisticated  virtues,  and  one  and 
all  you  may  resolve  them  into  that  subtle  and  pernicious  element,  the 
desire  for  getting  and  having."  —  Code  de  la  Nature,  p.  29. 


\'La^%}^J(^ 


10 


SOCLVUSM 


ii  I 


It  I 
■ « 


duties,  awards,  all  assifi^cd  him  by  central  authority. 
Mubly  trios  the  individuuli-st  .system  by  the  same  touch- 
stone of  morality,  finds  it  wanting  especially  in  comparison 
with  the  mythical  Lacedemonian  communistic  paradise 
with  which  his  classic  researches  had  familiarized  him, 
but,  recognizing  what  deep  roots  private  property  had 
sunk  in  human  nature,  compromises  on  an  attempt  to 
redress  the  worst  inequalities  by  taxation  and  limitation 
of  wealth. 

At  last  the  storm  broke  and  outworn  feudal  privilege 
and  abuse  went  by  the  lx)ard.  But  private  proi)erty  suc- 
ceeded in  -gathering  the  gale.    The  net  result  of  the 
revolution  was   merely  to  place  it  on  a  firmer  basis  by 
strengthening  and  extending  the  class  of  small  property- 
holders  and  lopping  off  the  worst  excrescences  of  privilege 
which  had  most  stirred  revolt.   It  was  essentially  a  hour- 
geois  movement.  Yet  here  and  there  more  radical  spirits, 
disillusioned  by  the  persistence  of  misery  even  with  king 
beheaded  and  clergy  and  noble  shorn,  were  forced  on  to 
attack,  not  the  abuses  of  individual  property  but  the 
institution  itself.    Of  these  Babeuf  has  been  given  pre- 
eminence, the  preeminence  of  the  scaffold,  by  his  ill-fated 
attempt  to  carry  through  yet  one  more  revolutior.  and 
establish  the  rigid  sawed-off  equality  he  fanatically  wor- 
shiped. It  has  been  contended  that  Bal)euf  marks  a  new 
epoch  in  socialist  development.'    Yet  his  theory  shows 
little  advance  over  that  of  his  masters,  Mably  and  Morelly, 
and  his  attempt  at  practice  was  not  the  result  of  any 
broad-based  proletarian  movement,  but  the  more  or  less 

'  "Babeuf.  whoso  conspiracy  must  be  rojjarded  as  the  startinR-pobt 
of  the  present  social  movement."—  Menger.  The  Right  to  the  Whole  Pro- 
dure  of  Labour,  p.  C;J. 

''nab<-uf  .  .  .  was  the  connectinR  link  between  eighteenth-century 
political  <lom(KTacy  a-'I  mo<lern  revohit'onarv  scxialism."  — Weatherly 
'•  Habeufs  Plac-  in  tt.  History  of  Socialism,"  Publications  of  American 
tconomic  Asuociation,  3d  ser.,  vol.  \iii,  no.  1,  p.  123. 


INTRODUCTION 


11 


accidental  outcome  of  the  "Go  to.  let  us  make  a  revolu- 
tion"  atmospbtre  of  liis  tiire.  , .  .  ,  „        , 

In  the  wars  and  the  triumphs  of  reaction  which  followed 
the  revolution,  so-ialist  criticism  and  socialist  aspiration 
were  overborne,  but  only  for  a  time.  Politic  ul  revolutions 
had  disturbed  the  lethargy  and  the  conservatism  of  the 
past  had  given  un(iucnchablo  thirst  for  change,  and  in 
the  sudden  and  dramatic  shifts  of  power  made  any  change 
seem  possible.  The  steam  engine  and  the  i)owcr  loom  were 
transforming  the  industrial  structure  of  society,  and  by 
making  the  excesses  of  unregulated  capitalism  possible 
were  making  the  counter-forces  of  socialism  inevitable. 
The  fabulous  potencies  of  the  new  instruments  of  produc 
lion  quickened  hopes  of  universal  prosperity  which  were 
turned  to  bitter  gall  by  the  realization  of  the  waste  and 
oppression  and  exploitation  attendant  on  the  comi)etitive 

systf   I.  Ill 

Th    -adcrs  of  the  new  movement  which  arose  had  them- 
selves perst>nal  knowledge  of  the  new  forces:  Owen,  cap- 
tain of  industry,  with  the  prestige  of  pecuniary  success  and 
philanthropic  endeavor  behind  him;  Founcr.  "sergent  de 
boutique,"  as  he  called  himself,  trained  in  trade  as  Owen 
in  manufacture,  and  analyzing  its  wastes  with  the  insight 
of  his  Poe-like  imagination  and  the  bias  of  his  systematic 
"rectangular"  temperament;  Saint-Simon,  scion  of  Charle- 
magne, but  the  unsparing  foe  of  hereditary  pretensions, 
prophet  of  a  new  order  where  industrial  capacity  would 
have  highest  honor  and  efficiency  be  secured  by  scientiBc 
organization  of  society's  scattered  forces.   They  were  all 
men  in  deadly  earnest,  they  and  their  schools  and  their 
fellows;  dreamers  indeed,  possessed  by  vague,  intangible, 
..  rge-horizoned  ideals  of  humanity's  perfection,  but  re- 
solved to  make  the  dreaming  come  true,  to  preach  the 
new  gospel  to  the  old  world  till  all  men  should  accept. 
They  strike  a  note  of  seriousness  not  found  in  Mably  c 
Morelly:  socialism  passes  definitely  from  the  dilettant 


12 


SOCIALISM 


'■  ;. 


hi 

m 


stage  to  the  crank  stage.  One  and  all  the  leaders  of  this 
school  were  men  of  contagious  enthusiasm  and  unbounded 
self-confidence,  well  content  to  suffer  neglect  and  obloquy 
to-day,  to  be  hailed  savior  of  society  to-morrow. 

In  their  analysis  of  the  system  against  which  they 
raised  their  protests,  these  Utopian  socialists  shared  the 
unhistorical  attitude  of  the  eighteenth-century  radicals,  and 
their  ascription  of  all  evil  to  the  knavery  or  ignorance  of  the 
barbarian  past.  In  their  panaceas  there  was  wide  variance 
from  the  most  rigid  state  control  to  the  most  implicit 
reliance  on  voluntary  cooperation,  but  this  in  common, 
that  each  believed  salvation  lay  in  the  discovery  of  the 
perfect  social  order  God  or  Nature  had  designed,  and  that 
each  worked  out  in  naive  detail  an  ideal  commonwealth, 
based  on  the  discovered  principle,  which  might  forthwith 
be  set  up  and  forever  be  enjoyed.    In  their  campaign 
against  capitalism  they  api)ealed  not  to  a  single  class  but 
to  all  men  as  brothers,  appealed  to  their  intelligence,  their 
sense  of  justice,  their  enlightened  common  interest,  seeking 
by  incessant  preaching  and  writing  of  the  word  and  by 
establishing  experimental  colonies  to  bring  them  to  the 
faith.  Keenly  critical,  ingeniously  suggestive,  contagiously 
enthusiastic,  they  played  no  unimportant  part  in  making 
men  realize  there  was  a  social  question  to  be  solved.   But 
their  own  direct  attempts  at  solution  came  to  nothing. 
One  school  after  another  flashed  into  popularity,  only  to 
disappear  as  rapidly,  and  make  way  for  still  another  type 
of  socialist  thought.  In  France  Proudhon  and  Louis  Blanc 
marked  the  transition  from  Utopian  to  scientific  socialism, 
Proudhon  contributing  to  the  analysis  of  capitalism  his 
theory  of  property  as  the  right  of  aubaine,  stressing  the 
desirability  of  democratizing  credit,  and  developing  the 
optimistic  anarchism   implicit  in  many  of  his  Utopian 
forerunners,  and  Blanc  on  the  other  hand  dwelling  with 
Saint-Simon  on  the  necessity  for  the  organization  of  labor, 
exalting  the  role  the  state  was  to  play  and  groping  toward 


IH 


Wi^^^^ 


INTRODUCTION 


18 


making  socialism  a  political  and  proletarian  movement. 
But  in  the  main  France  lost  its  primacy  in  the  socialist 
development;  the  torch  passed  across  the  Rhine. 

Karl  Marx  is  the  greatest  name  on  the  roll  of  socialism.* 
For  half  a  century  his  theories  have  been  the  intellectual 
backbone  of  the  movement,  and  whatever  modifications 
and  more  or  less  ingenuous  re-interpretations  they  have 
undergone  these  later  days,  it  is  still  his  personality  which 
dominates  the  minds  of  millions  of  his  fellow  men.  Marx 
was  admirably  equipped  for  his  mission ;  more  justly  even 
than  Lassalle  he  could  claim  to  be  "fortified  with  idl  the 
culture  of  his  century."  The  most  diverse  influences  went 
to  his  mental  shaping.  Hegelian  philosophy  modified  by 
Feuerbach's  materialism  gave  him  his  outlook  on  Ufe. 
His  rabbinical  ancestry  —  he  was  of  the  house  of  Mordecai 
—  strengthened  the  tendency  to  scholastic  hair-splitting. 
The  political  unrest  of  Germany  and  France  in  the  forties 
gave  him  a  revolutionary  bias.  The  socialist  sentiment, 
still  strong  in  Paris  in  the  days  of  his  exile  there,  made  his 
revolutionism  social  rather  than  political.  The  concrete 
developments  of  capitalism  in  England,  where  the  latter 
half  of  his  life  was  passed,  gave  him  the  key  to  the  future 
trend  of  economic  organization,  and  plentiful  ammunition 
for  criticism.  In  the  theories  of  English  classical  econom- 
ists he  found  doctrines  easily  twisted  into  condemnations 
of  the  existing  order,  while  the  English  utilitarian  philo- 
sophy materially  modified  his  original  neo-Hegelian  out- 
look. Such  a  cosmopolitan  training  was  eminently  fitted 
to  shape  a  leader  of  a  cosmopolitan  movement. 

The  service  of  Marx  to  his  cause,  his  followers  claim,  was 

»  "The  socialism  tliat  inspires  hopes  and  fears  to-day  is  of  the  school 
of  Marx.  Xo  one  is  seriously  apprehensive  of  any  other  so-called  social- 
istic movement.  .  .  .  The  socialists  of  all  countries  p-avitate  toward 
the  theoretical  position  of  avowed  Marxism.  In  proportion  as  the  move- 
ment in  any  given  commnnity  Rrows  in  mass,  maturity,  and  conscious 
purpose,  it  unavoidably  takes  on  a  more  consistently  Marxian  com- 
plexion." —  Veblen,  ^aHerly  Journal  oj  Ecowmks,  xxi,  p.  *99. 


14 


SOCIALISM 


8! 


to  make  socialism  sciectific,  inevitable,  proletarian,  aggress- 
ive,  international.    He  made  it  scientific  by  an  analysis 
which  laid  bare  all  history  as  the  record  of  the  war  of 
class  against  class,  and  traced  capitalist  exploitation  to  its 
source  in  surplus  value.    He  made  it  apix;ar  inevitable, 
no  longer  a  mere  personal  fantasy,  a  dreamed  Utopia  to 
strive  for  or  to  build  by  plan  and  specification,  but  the 
certain  next  step  in  social  progress,  the  outcome  of  forces 
immanent  in  the  existing  industrial  order.    He  made  it 
proletarian,  uniting  the  socialist  ideals  of  the  middle-class 
dreamers  of  the  previous  generation  and  the  practical 
aspu-ations  of  the  working  classes,  newly  feeling  their 
grievances  and  their  power.    He  made  it  aggressive,  ap- 
pealing not  to  the  idealism  and  the  justice  of  the  few, 
but  Lo  the  hunger  of  the  many.  He  made  it  international,' 
declaring  that  the  lines  of  division  should  no  more  fall 
between  nation  and  nation  but  between  class  and  class,  be- 
tween international  capital  and  international  labor.    "Let 
the  masters  tremble  at  the  coming  of  the  Communist  revolu- 
tion.  The  workers  have  nothing  to  lose  but  their  chains; 
they  have  a  world  to  win.  Workers  of  the  worid,  unite! " 
Marx's  clarion  call  has  been  answered.  Millions  of  the 
workers  of  the  worid  march  under  the  banners  he  and  his 
fellow  leaders  have  unfurled.    Marx  himself,  it  is  true, 
deficient  in  constructive  ability  and  political  tact,  counted 
for  little  directly  in   marshaling  the   hosts.    But  other 
leaders  have  risen  to  carry  on  the  work,  from  Lassalle, 
most  spectacular  of  agitators,  to  Liebknecht  and  Bebel, 
patient,  unwearied  tacticians ;  Auer  and  Singer,  masters 
of  organization ;  Guesde,  tenacious  of  the  faith  committed ; 
and  Jaures,  prince  of  opportunists ;  Hyndman,  uncompro- 
mising in  his  orthodoxy ;  Anseele,  exponent  of  socialism  in 
the  cooperative ;  and  Vandervelde  its  exponent  in  Parlia- 
ment; Turati  and  Ferri,  the  intctlecluel  leaders  of  the 
Italian  movement  —  these  and  countless  others,  preaching 
undiluted  Marxism  or  in  some  measure  continuing  the 


INTRODUCTION 


15 


Utopian  or  Proudhon  tradition,  or  making  Fabian  com- 
promises with  necessity,  have  given  voice  to  the  discontent 
of  uneasy  Europe.   Socialism,  which  a  generation  or  two 
ago  was  despised  by  the  world  as  the  creed  of  a  handful 
of  fantastic  dreamers  or  of  obscure  bands  of  conspirators 
with  a  mania  for  issuing  manifestoes,  to-day  stands  out 
as  the  most  remarkable  international  political  movement 
in  history,  commanding  the  adherence  of  eight  million 
voters,  representing  every  civilized  country  under  the  sun. 
The  success  attained  by  this  socialist  propaganda  has 
been  in  large  measure  the  outcome  of  the  changes  in  in- 
dustrial structure  which  marked  the  past  century.   The 
growth  of  a  large  and  compact  wage-earning  class,  shut 
out  for  the  most  part  from  the  probability  of  indi\'idual 
control  of  the  ever  huger  and  more  costly  instruments  of 
production,  made  inevitable  movements  to  gain  for  the 
workers  an  effective  share  in  the  control  of  industry.  Most 
successful  among  these  movements  have  been  the  attempts, 
based  on  the  continued  acceptance  of  private  ownership, 
to  secure  an  effective  voice  in  detc        ling  the  conditions 
of  employment,  by  trade-union  organization  and  by  legis- 
lative   regulation.     More    ambitious    was    the    project, 
awakening  in  the  earlier  days  intense  enthusiasm  and 
glowing  anticipation,  of  abolishing  the  capitalist  by  estab- 
lishing workmen's  productive  cooperative  societies.   But 
far  and  away  most  dazzling  was  the  ideal  of  communal 
and  national  ownership  and  control  of  all  the  means  of 
production,  making  -  -   kers  ar^d  owners  one  throughout 
the  whole  field  of  industiy.  ^or  over  half  a  centurj'  it  has 
been  the  aim  of  socialism  to  arouse  the  discontent  of  the 
working  classes  to  the  pitch  where  no  less  pretentious 
panacea,  no  mere  betterments  of  the  existing  order,  would 
be  accepted.  It  is  our  first  task  to  examine  the  indictment 
urged  to  this  end. 


'Jl; 


-a- 


^g^H 


!  ■    'i 
i|     t 


CHAPTER  n 

THE  80CUL1ST  INDICTMENT 

It  is  in  their  indictment  of  the  existing  order  that  sociah'sts 
are  most  m  harmony.   Theorists  who  are  poles  apart  in  the 
remedies  or  the  tactics  they  propose  join  forces  in  ana- 
thematizmg  the  common  enemy.    There  is,  of  course,  wide 
variation  in  the  relative  emphasis  laid  on  the  different 
counts,  a  variation  corresponding  to  some  extent  to  the 
differences  in  the  analytical  viewpoints  adopted:  to  one 
school  the  parasitical  middleman  is  the  worst  offender 
to  another  the  exploiting  capitalist;  to  one  the  anarchy 
of  production  is  the  rock  of  offense,  to  ai.    ',er  the  unfair- 
ness of  distribution;  the  moralist  bemoans  the  low  ethical 
standards  of  a  competitive  society,  and  the  artist  the 
hideousness  of  its  products.  But  the  ammunition  is  freely 
exchanged;  whatever  the  main  charge  be,  the  more  ills 
that  can  be  laid  at  the  door  of  competition  and  private 

rerr^;.  "«  ^'T-  ^.  *'^  t--««th-ntu.y  sLalist 
repeats  the  fiery  denunciations  of  John  Ball,  and  Morris 
and  Marx  find  common  ground. 

The  success  of  socialist  agitation  depends  not  merely  on 
the  existence  of  serious  industrial  evils,  but  on  the  readi- 

S^  T  ,^^,  reviewing  the  objective  facts  of  modern 
industrial  life  against  which  criticism  is  directed,  it  is 
advisable  to  consider  the  subjective  factor.  However 
black  the  Ills  that  are  charged  against  capitalism,  few 
onahsts  will  contend  that  misery  and  oppression  are  new 
in  he  world.  To  understand  why  a  fiercer  resentment,  a 
wider  revolt  prevails  to-day  than  ever  iK^fore  in  history 
It  IS  necessary  first  to  glance  at  the  psychology  of  modem 
social  unrest.  wcm 


J 


^^^mm^- j>:A  .:j^^''  i.w 


THE  SOCIALIST  INDICTMENT 


17 


Not  least  important  among  the  causes  of  the  increasing 
discontent  is  the  betterment  in  the  condition  of  the  masses. 
Spencer  has  called  attention  to  the  curious  paradox  that 
frequently  "the  more  things  improve  the  louder  become 
exclamations  about  their  badness."*  When  women  bore 
the  heavy  burdens  and  received  what  food  was  left  after 
their  lords  and  masters  had  eaten,  there  was  little  outcry 
as  to  the  rights  of  women;  to-day,  when  they  have  been 
given  all  l)ut  equal  privileges,  their  grievances  are  pro- 
claimed from  the  housetops.  A  century  ago,  when  drunken- 
ness was  normal  and  the  man  who  could  not  take  his  one 
or  two  bottles  of  wine  was  held  a  milksop,  there  was  little 
agitation  against  the  evils  of  drink;  but  to-day,  when  more 
exacting  industrial  demands  and  temperance  propaganda 
have  produced  comparative  sobrict^v,  the  prohibition 
movement  sweeps  whole  states.  So  with  the  condition  of 
the  average  workingman  of  to-day  as  compared  with  that 
of  his  ancestors.  It  is  beyond  (luestion  that  wages  are 
higher,  hours  are  shorter,  housing  is  better,  the  death-rate 
lower.  The  state  and  private  and  institutional  philan- 
thropy have  been  active  to  unparalleled  degree  in  provid- 
ing for  him  free  education,  free  museums,  free  parks.  Yet 
all  these  betterments  have  merely  served  to  whet  the  ap- 
petite for  more,  to  nourish  the  spirit  of  resistance,  to  foster 
a  "divine  discontent."  The  hopelessness  of  utter  poverty 
and  ignorance  crushes;  a  half  advance  rouses  fierce  de- 
mand. 

At  the  same  time  that  ambition  is  stirred,  the  goal  tanta- 
lizingly  recedes  into  the  distance.  Not  merely  is  demand 
stiffened;  its  scojw  is  immensely  widened.  The  higher 
pedestal  has  opened  new  horizons:  heavens  undreamed 
of  have  lieen  glimpsed.  The  growth  of  your  wants  out- 
foots  the  growth  of  your  ability  to  supply  them.  A  smaller 
proportion  of  your  demand  is  effectual,  as  the  economists 
remark.  For  your  standard  is  set,  not  by  your  outgrown 
>  A  Plea  for  Liberty,  p.  1. 


18 


SOCIALISM 


n' 


i^  I 


I 


seW.  nor  by  your  ancestor  dead  and  gone,  but  by  the  more 
fortunate  abcut  you.  The  optimist  may  remind  you  that 
one  born  m  your  station  of  life  a  centmy  ago,  or  in  that 
poorer  land  from  which  you  emigrated,  would  have 
thanked  God  humbly  for  meat  once  a  week;  that  not  many 
centuries  ago  cotton  was  a  luxuiy  reserved  by  law  for 
countesses  or  that  Planbgenet  kings  slept  on  rushes  and 

terTl-Hl     X  f  ^^  ^  *"""^  ^'P-   ^"^  ««  P^'-P^^^  it  mat- 
ters  httle  that  j  ,ur  great-grandfather  walked  shoeless 
while  you  walk  shod;  it  matters  much  that  you  walk' 
while  your  neighbor  whizzes  by  in  his  ninety-horse-power 

Sr  T  A^^^  "P''"  ^°"  ^^^  '*^^^«^  «f  his  aeroplane.' 
standards  have  advanced  faster  than  incomes.  The  luxu- 
ries of  yesterday  become  to-day's  necessities.  More  and 
more  home  services  and  preparations  are  replaced  by  the 
tempting  but  expensive  conveniences  of  the  open  market 
bpeed  and  up-to-dateness  must  be  had  at  any  cost 

Democracy  sharpens  the  sting  of  economic  inequality 
Equal  votes  suggest  equal  purses.  By  a  taking  analogy  in- 
dustrial democracy  appeals  as  the  inevitable  complement 

abihtv  oHh       TT-  '^'"*""*'^  P^^^""^'-  ««^^-t  the 
ability  of  the  people  to  govern  themselves  in  the  matter  of 

making  a  Imng  must  go  the  way  of  outworn  aristocratic 

prejudices  against  the  people's  ability  to  govern  themselves 

within  the  limits  of  caste,  and  are  trained  to  pray  Pro- 
vidence to  keep  them  in  their  proper  stations  and  bless  the 

A^^^ylr:^lrS:^T  ^^^  '*  *«  *^  workin^an.  before  the 

mann  and  Bader^      rf  t^  n        d      i  ,'  ^^'  (translated  by  Eb- 

nanauader;.    Ci.  U  Hou.  Psychology  oj  Socmlism,  ^.  li. 


it 


>.V- 


*J^B^^ 


THE  SOCIALIST  INDICTMENT 


19 


>re 
at 
at 

ire 

ly 

»r 
id 
t- 

s. 


Squire  and  his  relations,  it  is  only  the  few  hardiest  spirits 
who  drcum  of  questioning  the  justice  of  their  lot.  But 
when  the  harriers  of  caste  are  down,  and  democratic  theory 
teaches  that  every  man  is  as  good  as  his  neighbor,  then 
the  case  is  altered.  It  may  well  be  that  the  gap  between 
modern  millionaire  and  tenement  dweller  is  less  than  the 
gap  between  mec'ieval  lord  and  peasant,  but  the  peasant 
did  not  compare  himself  with  his  lord. 

At  the  same  time  the  old  ties  which  had  enforced  content 
have  weakened.  In  Europe  the  Church  has  long  been  the 
bulwark  of  Things  as  They  Are.  The  teaching  of  Jesus  as 
to  the  future  life  has  not  rarely  been  perverted  into  a  con- 
solation offer  for  the  losers  in  this  world's  race.'  Let  Laza- 
rus content  himself  with  the  crumbs  from  Dives'  table  in 
this  brief  second  we  call  Tiine,  and  through  Eternity  he 
shall  inherit  pearly  mansions,  and  may  look  dovyn  on 
Dives  vainly  striving  to  enter  the  needle's  eye  or  writhing 
in  hell-fire.  Lassalle's  gibe  about  payment  by  checks  on 
the  Bank  of  Heaven  had  enough  truth  in  it  to  hurt.  The 
Church  to-day  is  reawakening  to  her  social  duty,  but  the 
harm  has  been  done. 

The  massing  of  men  in  great  cities,  subject  to  the  social- 

>  A  clerical  opponent  of  socialism,  seeking  to  lay  the  responsibility  for 
its  gron-th  on  "liberalism"  and  "extreme  Darwinism,"  declares:  "If  it 
is  once  admitted  that  all  ends  with  this  lite  .  .  .  who  can  require  of  the 
poor  and  oppressed,  whose  life  is  a  continued  struRgle  for  existence,  that 
they  bear  their  hard  lot  with  patience  and  resignation  and  look  on  with 
iniliilfrence  while  their  neighbors  are  clad  in  purple  and  fine  linen,  and 
daily  revel  at  sumptuous  banquets?  ...  If  you  despoil  him  of  every 
hope  of  a  better  life  to  come,  what  right  have  you  to  prevent  him  from 
striving  to  obtain  happiness  on  earth  as  best  he  can,  and  therefore  to 
make  imperative  demands  for  his  share  of  earthly  goo<ls?  .  .  .  If  the 
atheistic  and  materialistic  theory  is  true,  the  demands  of  socialism  are 
certiunly  just  —  that  all  the  goods  and  enjoyments  of  this  life  should 
be  equally  divided  among  all;  that  it  is  therefore  unjust  that  one  should 
live  in  a  niagnifioent  palace  iind  enjoy  all  pleasures  without  labor,  white 
another  is  living  in  a  scpialid  cellar  or  cold  garret,  and  canr,ot,  even  with 
the  greatest  efifort.  obtain  enough  bread  to  appease  his  ..unger."  —  VictQr 
Cathrein,  S.J.,  Socidiam,  translated  by  Gettlemann,  pp.  224-225. 


e:s 


■ilCF^I 


20 


SOCIAUSM 


'if- 


z.ng  .nfluonce  of  the  factory  and  the  amusement-park, 
tends  m  the  same  direction.  The  isolated  farmer  or  the 
artisan   m   his   self-sufficient,  impervious   vilh^e  "up 

dweller  or  the  mme  worker,  cut  loose  from  his  native 
environment,  acted  on  every  hour  by  socializing  influence 
turns  more  readily  to  socialism.  When  Christianity  was' 
a  revolutionary  gospel  it  made  its  appeal  to  the  c  tv  oro 
letariat,  not  to  the  "pagans."  ^  ^  °" 

More  subtle  and  pervasive  is  the  effect  ascribed  to 
machine  industry  itself.-   Professor  Veblen  assi>s  to  the 
mach,ne  proc-es       disciplinary  and  selective  eff  ct  o^  the 
hab  ts  of  thought  of  the  workmen  closest  in  touch  with  it 
Their  reasoning  comes  to  run  in  terms,  not  of  anthrop^: 
morphism  and  conventional  precedent,  but  of  "opar 
.mpersona     cause   and   effect.-    Arguments    base7on 
authenticity  and  usage  or  oven  on  the  once  revolutiona^ 
basis  of  natural  rights  cease  to  have  meaning.    Es^^ 

disfavor.  Socialism,  voicing  this  attitude,  differs  herein 
from  previous  expressions  of  popular  disconten  Xh 
aimed  merely  at  a  more  equitable  distribution  of  property 
rifihts.  not  at  their  abolition  -  tho.gh  it  is  admit^eTtTat 

the  ^'^,m  to  the  full  product  of  labor  has  carried  mos\ 

deSe  lat  t"-  'T'"^  ''^  ^''''  ""^"'^'  '*  --  un- 
deniable that  It  IS  only  among  the  industrial  classes  of  the 

industrial  nations  that  socialism  has  won  wide  adherent 

Men    engaged    m    pecuniary    rather   than    in  in.luTrhi 

employments,  though  equally  propertyless.  are  immunT' 

•  Veblen,  Theory  of  Bumnes.',  Enterprise  chan  \x  "Tl.o  n  u      ,  r 
cdence  of  the  Machine  Process,"  JZ  ^'     '         '  ^"''"'''  '"- 

•  Ilnd.,  p.  310. 

those  not  so  available  is  rather  tl]  .  **"*   '*  P'-"P«Panda  and 


,  THE  SOCIALIST  INDICTMENT 


n 


The  miracles  of  nineteenth-century  science  have  helped 
to  accustom  men's  minds  to  schemes  of  revolutionary 
change.  We  have  mastered  nature,  have  weighed  the  sun 
and  flashed  messages  across  the  ocean,  have  harnessed 
steam  and  electricity  to  do  our  bidding,  and  shrunk  the 
huge  earth's  circumference  to  a  forty-day  Cook's  tour. 
To  optimistic  minds  it  seems  but  child's  play,  compared 
with  such  achievements,  to  alter  the  economic  system 
under  which  we  live. 

Finally  it  may  be  noted  what  facilities  for  propaganda 
have  been  created  by  the  new  mobility  of  labor,  the  ease 
of  transportation,  the  rise  of  the  popular  press.  The  bar- 
riers which  a  few  centuries  ago  made  it  possible  to  isolate 
a  radical  force,  have  broken  down;  now  all  the  world  's 
the  stage.  Criticism  has  proved  a  commercial  success :  the 
press  prefers  ten  proletarian  coppers  to  one  plutocratic 
nickel.  The  fierce  yellow  light  that  beats  upon  a  multi- 
millionaire keeps  the  sins  of  wealih  ever  before  us. 


Thus  socialism  has  found  the  ground  ready  for  the  seed 
of  discontent.  What  seed  has  been  sown?  what  are  the 
chief  counts  in  the  indictment  brought  against  capitalism? 


a  question  not  so  much  of  possessions  as  of  employments;  not  of  relative 
wealth,  but  of  work.  .  .  .  The  socialistic  disaffection  shows  a  curious 
tendency  to  overrun  certain  classes  and  to  miss  certain  others.  The  men 
in  the  skilled  mechanical  trades  are  peciiliarly  liable  to  it,  while  at  the 
extreme  of  immunity  is  probably  the  profession  of  the  law.  Bankers  and 
other  like  classes  of  business  men,  together  with  clergymen  and  politi- 
cians, arc  also  to  be  held  free  of  serious  aspersion;  similarly  the  great 
body  of  the  rural  population  are  immune,  including  the  population  of  the 
ountry  towns  and  in  an  eminent  degree  the  small  farmers  of  the  remoter 
country  districts;  so  also  the  delinquent  classes  of  the  cities  and  the 
populace  of  ha'.f-civilized  and  barbarous  countries.  .  .  .  The  unproper- 
tied  classes  employed  in  business  '"  not  take  to  socialistic  vagaries  .  .  . 
[but]  to  some  incursion  into  pragnidtie  romance,  such  as  Social  Settle- 
ments, Prohibition,  Clean  Politics,  Single  Tax,  Arts  and  Crafts,  Neigh- 
borhood Guilds,  Institutional  Church,  Christian  Science,  New  Thought, 
or  some  such  cultural  thimblerig."  — Veblen,  Theory  of  Business  Enter- 
prise, pp.  S48-349,  351,  note. 


;uiip?*^Vi«7«-c  vv^^.- 


n 


SOCUUSM 


Applying  first  the  touchstone  of  eflScienoy  m  the  pnv 
duction  of  material  goods,  it  is  charged  that  the  com- 
petitive system  has  lamentably  failed.  The  provision  of 
society's  re<iuirements  as  a  by-product  of  individual  self- 
seeking  has  broken  down.   Private  profit  is  far  from  co- 
inciding with  social  gain.   One  of  the  most  objective  and 
clear-sighted  observers  of  present-day  economic  life  thus 
summarizes  a  part  of  his  investigation:  "The  outcome  of 
this  recital,  then,  is  that  wherever  and  in  so  far  as  business 
ends  and  methods  dominate  modern  industry,  the  relation 
between  the  usefulness  of  the  work  (for  other  purposes 
than  i)ecimiary  gain)  and  the  remuneration  of  it  is  remote 
and  uncertain  to  such  a  degree  that  no  attempt  at  formu- 
lating  such  a  relation  is  worth  while.  .  .  .  Work  that  is, 
on  the  whole,  useless  or  detrimental  to  the  community  at 
large  may  be  as  gainful  to  the  business  man  and  to  the 
workmen  whom  he  employs  as  work  tl-at  contributes  sub- 
stantially to  the  aggregate  livelihood." » 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  churgcd,  laissez-faire  breaks  down 
in  t'lat  wide  range  of  cases  where  utilities  of  undeniable 
importance  are  not  provided  l)ecause  incapable  of  private 
appropriation  and  sale.  The  importance  of  forest  preserva- 
tion for  conserving  moisture  is  undeniable.  But  climate 
and  rainfall  cannot  be  packaged  and  traflScked  -,  and  so 
our  forests  are  swept  down  by  axe  and  fire.*  A  lighthouse 
might  be  absolutely  essential  on  some  dangerous  promon- 
tory, but  profit-making  enterprise  would  hall  if  circum- 
stances made  it  impossible  to  collect  a  toll  from  benefited 
ships. 

'  Veblen,  Theory  nf  Dusinesn  Enterprise,  p.  G3. 

«  "We  are  complete  savaKes  in  the  management  of  water  and  foresU. 
.  .  .  V\e  do  not  confine  ourselves  to  leaving  them  uncultivated  and  in 
llie.r  primitive  state;  we  brins  the  axe  and  destruction,  and  the  result  is 
landsh.Ies.  the  denuding  of  mountain-sides,  and  the  deterioration  of  the 
climate.  .  .  .  H„w  our  descendants  will  curse  civilization,  on  seeing  so 
many  mountains  d.-spoiled  an.l  laid  bare!"— Foi-ricr.  Thioriede  ITniU 
Ururvr.ette,  IH'M,  iii,  478,  in  Gide's  Selections  from  Fourier,  translated  by 
rranklin,  p.  10!). 


THE  SOCIALIST  INDICTMENT  tt 

Even  more  serious  is  the  loss  entailed  when  the  lure  of 
profit  attracts  too  large,  rather  than  too  small,  a  propor- 
tion of  the  coninmnity's  working  forces  into  particular 
channels.  Conservative  trust  apologists  have  helped 
radical  socialist  critics  to  make  the  wastes  of  competition 
a  commonplace  in  our  thinking.  The  middleman  is  again 
under  suspicion,  as  in  the  days  when  forestallers,  engross- 
ers, and  regraters  troubled  the  common  weal.  Within  the 
classical  school  itself,  Adam  Smith's  sweeping  optimism' 
is  balanced  by  Mill's  admission'  that  competition  may 
result  not  in  price-cutting  but  in  a  war  for  a  share  of  busi- 
ness on  a  fixed  price  level.  Fourier  particularly  has  de- 
nounced its  wastefulness  with  a  force  and  frequency  not 
surpassed  among  later  socialists.  "We  are,"  he  declares, 
"as  far  as  regards  the  industrial  mechanism,  as  raw  as  a 
peo[)le  who  should  ignore  the  use  of  mills  and  employ  fifty 
laborers  to  grind  grain  which  is  to-day  crushed  by  a 
single  millstone.  The  superfluity  of  agents  is  frightful 
everywhere,  and  generally  amounts  to  four  times  what  is 
necessary  in  all  commercial  employments," '  The  contrast 
between  the  planless  distribution  of  milk  by  a  score  of 
competing  dealers  serving  a  single  street,  and  the  sys- 
tematic distribution  of  mail  by  a  central  authority,  has 
grown  hoary  in  socialist  service.*   Especially  in  the  field 


•  "The  pn-jiulic-es  of  some  political  writers  against  shopkeepers  and 
tradesmen  are  alt()>?ether  without  foundation.  .  .  .  They  can  never  be 
multipUed  so  as  to  hurt  the  public,  though  they  niuy  so  as  to  hurt  one 
another."  —  Wealth  of  Nations,  bk.  ii,  chap.  5,  i,  pp.  366-367,  Bohn. 

•  "Competition  has  no  other  effect  than  to  share  the  sum  total  among 
a  larger  number,  and  thus  diminish  the  portion  of  each,  rather  than  to 
lower  the  relative  part  obtained  by  this  class  in  general."  —  Evidence, 
House  of  Commons  Commission,  June  6,  1850. 

'  Fourier,  Theorie  des  Quatre  Slouvemenls,  pp.  373-377,  in  Gide,  Selec- 
tions, p.  104. 

•  "See  how  private  enterpri.se  supplies  the  .street  with  milk.  At  7.30 
a  milk-cart  comes  along  and  delivers  milk  at  one  hou.se,  and  away  again. 
Half  an  hour  later  another  milk-cart  arrives  and  delivers  milk  first  on 
ibis  gide  of  the  street,  and  then  on  that,  until  seven  houses  have  been 


»'*/■- 
-t^^^ 


••  SOCIALISM 

of  public  utiliHes.  where  increasing  returns  ai«  the  rule, 
the  wa.ste  of  com,K.tition  i.s  obvious  -  in  parullol  railroad^ 
competinB  ga«-companies.  duphcated  electric  light^ 
power  plants.  ^       "^ 

Competitive  .selling-costs  bulk  very  large  in  the  "cost 
of  production';  of  all  commodities.  This  is  clearest  in  the 
case  of  advertising.   To  a  varying  extent  modem  adver- 
tising IS  doubtless  informative,  guiding  and  stimulating 
the  «an ts  of  customers.  But  for  the  most  part  it  is  merely 
«»mpe  itivc.  catering  to  ex-"     ng  wants.'    Such  advertii^ 
mg     does  not  add  to  the  ..rviceability  of  the  outout 
unless  It  be  incidentally  and  unintentionaUy.  .         jS 
vendibility  which  is  u.seful  to  the  seller,  but  has  no  u^I  ty 
to  the  last  buycr."^  Conservative  economists  estimate  tZ 
waste  at  half  the  «.IIing-pric.  in  many  lines.»  it^t  part 
the  work  of  office  force  and  field  force  is  equalirvoiS  of 
socia    u hhty.    Nor  is  the  waste  ended  whe'n  the  deal  is 
•    M      v^'^  r^"''*^*'  manufacturer  may  have  sold  his  goods 
m  New  1  ork.  and  the  New  York  manufacturer  in  Chic^ 

upon  wheel...  send,  a  man  to  drive  it  th^nltl    '"''."'' V"  ''"^*  '»«•'• 

'  Veblen.  Thtory  of  Bminens  Enterprite.  p  59 

•    'Such  expense  of  advertising  must,  of  course,  add  greatlv  to  tfc» 


Qi*iari^'.^^r«fiijap:*i^%f/:i*.  r?^'^^^ 


THE  SOCUUST  INDICTMENT 


•S 


80  that  the  item  of  cross-freights,  serious  in  bulky  wares, 
is  still  to  be  reckoned.  For  furtiier  detuil.s  of  competitive 
waste,  we  biveonlj  to  consult  the  latest  trust  prospectus. 

Nowhere,  the  indictment  continues,  does  capitalism 
break  down  more  conspicuously  than  in  the  equilibration 
of  demand  and  supply.  Production  in  comi>etitive  society 
is  planless  and  anarchical.  Haphazardly  scattered  pro- 
ducers prepare  to  meet  the  gucsscd-at  demands  of  world- 
wide consumers.  The  adjustment  is  never  exact.  At  times 
it  fails  utterly,  in  the  periodical  crises  which  throw  the 
industrial  mechanism  hoiiclcssly  out  of  gear.  "Commerce 
is  at  a  standstill,  the  markets  are  glutted,  hard  cash  dis- 
apjK'ars,  factories  are  closed,  the  mass  of  the  workers  are 
in  want  of  the  means  of  subsistence."  * 

The  case  for  com[K«tition  is  no  more  favorable  when  we 
turn  from  quantity  to  quality  of  products.  "Adulteration 
is  a  form  of  com{)etition,"  was  the  frank  ajwlogy  offered 
by  John  Bright.  The  advance  of  science  and  original  sin 
have  made  it  possible  to  counterfeit  almost  every  article 
of  common  household  use,  the  more  easily  Ix  cause  of  the 
lack  of  experience  of  the  final  purchaser.''  Even  in  Tenny- 
son's day  "chalk  and  alum  und  plaster  were  sold  to  the 
poor  for  broid,"  and  the  wooden  nutmeg  had  rechristened 
a  state.  Bui  the  amaicur  and  unsophisticated  efforts  of 
half  a  century  ago  pale  before  the  accomplishments  of 
to-day,  —  the  red  raspberry  jam  which  once  was  gelatin, 
aniline,  and  timothy  seed  ;  the  prune-juice  and  fusel  oil 
masquerading  as  whiskey ;  the  chicory  in  the  coffee  and  the 
pea-hulls  in  the  chicory;  the  artificial  oils  in  the  flavoring- 

«  Engels,  Socialism,  Utopian  and  Scientific,  translated  by  Avcling,  p. 
64 

'  "The  dilution  and  adulteration  of  food-products  is  a  particularly 
easy  patli  to  profit  because  thi  ultimate  purchaser  has  almost  no  power 
and  very  little  intelligence.  .  .  .  Woman  brings  to  her  selection  from  the 
world's  foods  only  the  empirical  experience  gained  by  practicing  upon 
her  helpless  family."  —Charlotte  P.  Stetson  (Giiman),  Women  and  EeO' 
nomics.  pp.  iil-iUd. 


t6 


SOCIALISM 


I 


extracts;  the  labels  we  drink  at  champagne  prices;  the 
shoddy  we  are  clothed  in  and  the  paper  soles  we  walk  on; 
the    Corot"  on  our  walls  with  its  paint  scarce  dry.' 

Nor  is  it  only  in  the  selling  of  commodities  that  this 
fraud  IS  charged.  "The  genius  of  graft."  declares  a  social- 
ist satire,  "manifests  itself  in  nearly  all  branches  of  human 
activity.  Wherever  something  can  be  got  for  nothing, 
wherever  a  pinch  or  a  squeeze  of  extra  profit  can  be  made 
in  a  transaction,  wherever  falsehood  can  bf  aiade  to  do 
duty  for  truth,  a  pretense  for  accomplishment  or  service 
there  is  observed  a  metamorphosis  of  the  protean  genius  of 

I  u  ~~.        P^"^  ^^^^  ""^  ^^'^  hackman  or  waiter,  of  the 

loan  shark  or  the  quack  physician  or  the  shyster  lawyer, 
of  the  fake  installment  trade  or  diploma  factory." 

Even  where  the  quality  of  the  wares  is  honest  enough, 
they  have  lost  all  semblance  of  art  or  seemliress     The 
craf csman's  pride  in  his  work  has  given  place  to  the  profit- 
monger  s  preoccupation  with  his  ledger.  The  jeremiads 
of  Ruskm  and   Morris  on  the  lack  of  boaufy  and  simple 
honesty  m  the  goods  of  commerce  arc  familiar.    The  same 
charge  is  brought  against  the  stores  where  the  wares  are 
offered    "distorted,  compressed  to  the  narrowest,  with  no 
space  for  effect,  with  none  to  offer  were  there  space  to  per- 
ceive It,  with  every  line  cut  short  at  the  end  of  its  money- 
making  power;  with  its  tawdry  best  face  forward,  with  no 
sides  at  all,  and  an  unspeakable  rear;  with  no  regard  what- 

•  Cf.  Ghent.  Masti  and  Clans,  p.  202. 

nLl'^^l-  ""c"'  •"'■'■^^''^^'^ti""  «"d  published  report  of  the  Charity 
Orgamzat.o„  Society  of  New  York  Ci-    on  the  eon.s„mptio„.eure  S 

Lt,on  o  h,s  swndle  These  expeetations  have  not  been  fulfilled.  With 
that  ubhme  audacty.  energy,  ingenuity,  and  initiative  which  our 
unJer  th':'      "  '.-.•  *^™"'"^*'^^  ";^'»  "«  «>--*y^  b^ng  their  rightful  reward 

Cha  tt  L^  nlr  "''''"''  '^'''  '•'"■''f '-^'^  '•■^^•«  -''♦-^ted  from  the 
Char  ty  Report  the  denunciatory  passages,  transformed  them  into  com- 
men,lat,ons.  and  sown  them  broadcast.  As  a  consequence  the  curer"f 
eonsumpt.on  s„  1  sits  at  the  receipt  of  custom,  and  enjoys  the  rdU 
of  Lis  superior  abiliUc^i.'  -/W..  po.  21^-213. 


-1« 


THE  SOCULIST  INDICTMENT 


27 


ever  for  harmony  with  its  neighbors;  ugliness  and  selfish- 
ness, the  ugliness  of  systematized  selfishness." ' 

Financial  fraud  is  rated  more  serious  even  than  com- 
mercial. As  credit  and  r;orporations  count  for  more  and 
more  the  openings  for  manipulation  widen.  The  way  is 
.  '<  ur  for  promotion,  running  the  gamut  from  the  down- 
1  ^ht  swindle  ol  the  cent-a-share  mining  company  to  the 
1  i.  t  graft  of  respectable  over-capitalization.  The  com- 
pu.ij  nn-.-  forir.,td,  the  divergence  of  interest  between 
director  and  shareholder,  temporary  controller  and  per- 
manent owner,  tempts  to  all  the  thousand  and  one  devices 
of  manipulation.  "Under  the  regime  of  the  old-fashioned 
'money  economy,'  with  partnership  methods  and  private 
ownership  of  industrial  enterprises,  the  discretionary  con- 
trol of  the  industrial  processes  is  in  the  hands  of  men 
whose  interest  in  the  industry  is  removed  by  one  degree 
from  the  interests  of  the  community  at  large.  But  under 
th  regime  of  'he  more  adequately  developed  'credit 
economy,'  with  vendible  corporate  capital,  the  interest 
of  the  men  who  hold  the  discretion  in  industrial  affairs 
is  removed  by  one  degree  from  that  of  the  concerns  under 
their  management,  and  by  two  degrees  from  the  interests 
of  the  community  at  large.  The  business  inrerests  of  the 
managers  demand  not  serviceability  of  the  output,  nor 
even  vendibility  of  the  output,  but  an  advantageous  dis- 
crepancy ?n  the  price  of  the  capital  which  they  manage  . . . 
a  discrepancy  between  the  actual  and  the  putative  earn'ng- 
capacity,"2  Testimony  to  the  same  effect  is  borne  more 
specifically  by  the  leading  English  financial  authority, 
"The  Economist,"  which  declares  its  "conviction,  founded 
upon  long  and  bitter  experience,  that  the  small  coterie 
of  capitalists  who  control  the  railways  of  the  United  States 
look  upon  the  investor  as  a  mere  pawn  in  the  game  they 
are  playing  for  their  own  enrichment," 

1  Reeve,  Cost  of  Competition,  p.  402. 
»  Veblen,  op.  ciL,  pp.  158-169. 


'•A 
::1 


If  I 


28 


SOCIALISM 


V 


The  speciBc  counts  in  this  indictment  of  frenzied  finance 
are  beyond  possibility  of  record.'    Fresh  in  memory  ar« 
that  "artistic  swindle,"^  the  looting  of  the  United  States 
bhipbuildmg  Company;  the  floating  of  the  Asphalt  Com- 
pany  of  America,  "a  story  of  financial  fraud  and  rotten- 
ness";' the  "crime  of  Amalgamated"  and  -)ther  exploits 
of  "the  hellish  System"  -  "in  itself  a  stark  and  palpable 
fraud,  hut  aggravated  by  the  standing  of  the  men  con- 
cerned m  It,  and  pledges  that  were  slaughtered,  into  as 
arrant  and  damnable  a  piece  of  financial  villainy  as  was 
ever  committed";^  the  Chicago  and  Alton  reorganization, 
the  msurance  scandals,  the  New  York  street-railway  loot- 
ing, the  recent  banking  exploits  of  copper  magnates  and 
ice  magnates.  And  the  other  deeds  of  the  kings  of  finance, 
are  they  not  written  in  the  books  of  the  muck-rakers  and 
m  presidential  messages?    "There  has  been  in  the  past 
grave  wrong  done  innocent  stockholders,"  declared  Pre- 
sident Roosevelt,  "by  over-capitalization,  stock-watering, 
stock-jobbmg,    stock-manipulation.  .  .  .  The    r  an   who 
makes  an  enormous  fortune  by  corrupting   legislatures 
and  municipalities,  and  fleecing  his  stockholders  and  the 
public,    lands  on  the  same  moral  level  with  the  creature 
who  fattens  on  the  blood-money  of  the  gambling-house  and 
the  saloon The   rebate-taker,    the  franchise   traf- 

J  '■  ^°  !3*?  l^'''^.  T  P""'^*^  ^°'  ^-  Bonham.  in  London, '  an  argument 
proving  that  tae  South  Sea  Company  is  able  to  make  a  dividend^  38 
per  cent  for  twelve  years.  6tted  to  the  meanest  capacities.'  This  was 
one  of  the  first  prospectuses  ever  issued,  and  the  succession  ha    bLn 

wSVIh'  'T'°[=  'r'*  '^'^'"'^^  ^°'°P'"'>''  Louisiana  BubTS 
South  American  Bonds.  American  Improvement  Bonds.  English  Rail 
^ays.  American  Railways.  American  Mines.  South  American  Railways 
Australian  Ra.  Iwaj.,  Rand  Mines.  American  Industrials -John  Law 
Hudson  Bamato,  Hooley.  Gates,  and  Lawson.  The  line  runs  true  The 
Jackass  Company  still  lives."- Meade,  Trust  Finance,  pp.  TsS^Tsi 
^  .^Receiver  s  Report,  cited  in  Ripley.  Trusts.  PooU.  Z  Corpcrration,. 

»  Ripley.  Ibid.,  p.  229. 

*  Lawson,  Frenzied  Finance,  p.  870. 


THE  SOCIALIST  INDICTMENT  29 

ficktr,  the  manipulator  of  securities,  the  purveyor  and 
protector  of  vice,  the  blackmaih'ng  ward  boss,  the  ballot- 
box  stuffer,  the  demagogue,  the  mob  leader,  the  hired 
bully  and  man  killer,  — all  alike  work  at  the  same  web  of 
corruption,  and  all  alike  should  be  abhorred  ^  honest 
men." ' 

So  much  for  the  efficiency  of  the  competitive  system 
as  a  means  of  producing  the  greatest  possible  amount  cf 
useful  material  goods.   Rated  even  in  terms  of  goods  and 
gear  it  is  condemned.  What  is  the  loss  and  gain  computed 
in  terms  of  human  life,  what  the  conditions  under  which 
the  mass  of  men  labor  to  produce  this  wealth,  what  their 
share  in  the  product  and  the  consequent  measure  of  ma- 
terial comfort  and  well-being  attainable?   Here  the  indict- 
ment become^  more  serious  and  more  passionate.   For  the 
vast  majority,  it  is  urged,  competition  and  capitalism 
spell  misery  and  failure,  a  precarious  lifelong  battle  with 
hunger,  stunted  and  narrowed  development,  premature 
death  or  cheerless  old  age.    Long  ago  in  Merrie  England 
John  Ball  preached  the  contrast  between  lord  and  peasant, 
oppressor  and  oppressed:  "Ah,  ye  good  peonle,  the  matter 
goeth  not  well  to  pass  in  England,  nor  si  not  do  till 
everything  be  in  common,  and  that  there  be  no  villeins  nor 
gentlemen,  but  that  we  may  be  all  united  together,  and 
that  the  lords  be  no  greater  masters  than  ,  e  be.  WTiat  have 
we  deserved,  or  why  should  we  be  kept  thus  in  servage? 
We  be  all  come  from  one  father  and  one  mother,  Adam 
and  Eve  —  whereby  can  they  say  or  show  that  they  be 
greater  lords  than  we  be,  saving  that  they  cause  us  to 
labor  to  bring  forth  what  they  consume.'  They  are  clothed 
in  velvet  and  furs;  we  are  dressed  in  poor  clothes.   They 
have  their  wine,  spices,  and  good  bread,  and  we  have  oat- 
cake and  straw,  and  water  to  drink.   They  dwell  in  fair 
houses,  and  we  have  the  pain  and  the  toil,  rain  and  winds 
in  the  fields.  By  the  produce  of  .ur  labor  they  keep  and 
•  Special  Message  to  Congress,  January  31,  1908. 


^  fir 


If* 


80 


SOCIALISM 


■i 


mamtarn  their  estates.  We  be  -."od  their  bondmen,  and 
without  we  readily  do  their  vs  be  beaten."  '  And  to- 

day, after  6ve  centuries  of  pi  .j,'re.s>  in  civilization,  with 
political  freedom  secured  and  the  industrial  system  revo- 
lutionized, a  calm  observer  can  pass  this  damning  verdict: 
"To  me,  at  least,  it  would  be  enough  to  condemn  modern 
society  as  hardly  an  advance  on  slavery  or  serfdom,  if  the 
permanent  condition  of  industry  were  to  be  that  which 
we  behold,  that  ninety  per  cent  of  the  actual  producers 
of  wealth  have  no  home  that  they  can  call  their  own  be- 
yond the  end  of  the  week;  have  no  bit  of  soil,  or  so  much 
as  a  room  that  belongs  to  them;  have  nothing  of  value  of 
any  kind  except  as  much  old  furniture  as  will  go  in  a  cart; 
have  the  precarious  chance  of  weekly  wages  which  barely 
suffice  to  keep  them  in  health ;  are  housed  for  the  most  par*, 
m  places  that  no  man  thinks  fit  for  his  horse;  are  separated 
by  so  narrow  a  margin  from  destitution  that  a  month  of 
bad  trade,  sickness,  or  unexpected  loss  brings  them  face 
to  face  with  hunger  and  pauperism."' 

Considering  first  the  conditions  under  which  men  earn 
their  living,  the  socialist  finds  the  majority  sunk  in  "wage 
slavery."  The  capitalist's  control  of  all  the  opportunities 
of  labor  gives  him  power  more  tyrannous  than  the  A&ye- 
owner  of  old  ever  held.  No  legal  bond  compels  the  modern 
workman  to  labor  for  his  masters,  but  the  monopoly  of 
the  means  of  livelihood  is  stronger  than  any  parchment 
right.  The  main  diflFerence  between  the  old  and  the  new 
slavery  is  that  the  modem  slave-driver  is  under  no  obliga- 
tion to  keep  his  "hands"  from  starving.  It  is  for  the 
capitalist,  and  the  capitalist  alone,  to  decide  when  and 
where  work  shall  be  begun,  who  shall  and  shall  not  be 
employed,  what  the  manner  of  working  shall  be.  "The 
workman,"  declares  Keir  Hardie,  "is  finding  out  that  he 

>  Proissart,  Chronidet,  chap.  381. 

I  Frederic  Harrison.  Report  of  luduttrial  RemunercUion  Conference. 
p.  4)c9.  •' 


THE  SOCIALIST  INDICTMENT 


SI 


« 


M 

I 

I 

A 


has  but  exchanged  one  form  of  serfdom  for  another  and 
that  the  necessity  of  hunger  is  an  even  more  cruel  scourge 
than  was  the  thong  of  the  Roman  taskmaster.  ...  He 
has  no  right  to  employment,  no  one  is  under  obligation 
to  find  him  work,  nor  is  he  free  to  work  for  himself,  since 
he  has  neither  the  use  of  land  nor  the  command  of  the 
necessary  capital.  He  must  be  more  or  less  of  a  nomad, 
ready  to  go  at  a  moment's  .otice  to  where  a  job  is  vacant. 
He  may  be  starving  but  may  not  grow  food,  naked  but 
may  not  weave  cloth;  homeless  but  may  not  build  a  home. 
When  in  work  he  has  little  if  any  say  in  the  regulations 
which  govern  the  factory,  and  none  in  deciding  what 
work  is  to  be  done  or  how  it  is  to  be  done.  His  duty  begins 
and  ends  in  doing  as  he  is  bid.  To  talk  to  a  neighbor 
workman  at  the  bench  is  an  offense  punishable  by  a  fine; 
so,  too,  in  some  cases  is  whistling  while  at  work.  At  a 
given  hour  in  the  morning  the  factory  bell  warns  him  that 
it  is  time  to  be  inside  the  gate  ready  for  the  machines  to 
start;  at  a  set  hour  the  bell  or  hooter  calls  hira  out  to  din- 
ner and  again  recalls  him  to  his  task  one  hour  later.  He 
does  not  own  the  machines  he  manipulates,  nor  does  he 
own  the  product  of  his  labor.  He  is  a  hireling,  and  glad 
to  be  any  man's  hireling  who  will  find  him  work." ' 

It  is  not  only  from  lack  of  freedom  that  the  modem 
workman  suffers.  The  work  which  he  does  at  another's 
bidding  is  drearily  monotonous  work.  The  factory  system 
means  for  the  average  workman  cramping  and  dispiriting 
routine,  a  pitifully  limited  horizon,  the  repression  of  all 
latent  power  not  needed  for  the  mechanical  day's  work. 
Individuality  is  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  efficient  produc- 
tion. "The  absorption  of  the  whole  working  power  of 
large  classes  by  an  ever  minuter  division  of  labor,  unless 
balanced  by  increased  freedom  and  leisure,  tends  to  de- 
grade the  character  of  the  worker,  to  injure  the  all-round 
development  of  his  nature,  and  thereby  to  impair  his 
I  From  Serfdom  to  Socidisin,  pp.  76,  52-53. 


ill 


r»!' 


lie 


I 

t 


I 


S2 


SOCIALISM 


facilities  of  enjoyment  and  nou-industrial  use.  The  dom- 
inance of  specialized  routine  impresses  the  character  of 
machine  work  upon  the  life,  robs  it  of  those  elements 
of  individuality  and  spontaneity  which  make  existence 
rational  and  enjoyable."' 

The  factory  system  not  only  robs  the  workman  of  free- 
dom and  of  interest  in  his  task,  the  arraignment  continues, 
but  subjects  him  to  exhausting  and  dangerous  toil.    The 
long  hours  which  the  greed  for  dividends  wrings  from 
the  workers  use  up  every  ounce  of  vitality,  prevent  that 
rounded  development  which  can  come  only  with  moderate 
leisure,  and  v/ear  life  out  at  such  a  rate  that  at  fifty  the 
victim  must  be  discarded  for  a  younger  man,  scrapped 
like  outworn  machinery.  The  danger  of  fatal  or  crippling 
accident  is  ever  present,  with  small  possibility  of  redress 
against  the  battalioned  lawyers  of  the  employer  or  liability 
company,  and  with  certainty  of  distress  and  privation  for 
the  family  whose  breadwinner  is  helpless.  "More  men  are 
killed  and  wounded  every  year  by  the  railroads  that 
employ  them  than  were  killed  and  wounded  by  General 
Lee's  army  in  the  sanguinary  three  days*  conflict  at  Gettys- 
burg; the  coal-mines  approximate  fifteen  hundred  killings 
and  thirty-five  hundred  maimings  yearly,  while  the  casu- 
alty list  of  the  factories,  though  uncomputed,  is  known 
to  be  enormous.  Yet  every  effort  to  lessen  the  number  of 

•  Hobson,  Tke  Social  Problem,  pp.  11-12. 

No  stronger  condemnation  of  the  effects  of  division  of  labor,  "unless 
government  take  some  pains  to  prevent  it,"  can  be  found  than  Adam 
femith  s:  The  man  whose  whole  life  is  spent  in  performing  a  few  simple 
operation.s,  of  which  the  effects,  too,  are  perhaps  always  the  same,  or 
very  nearly  the  same,  has  no  occasion  to  exert  his  understanding,  or  to 
exercise  his  invention  in  finding  out  expedients  for  removing  diflSculties 
which  never  occur.  He  naturally  loses,  therefore,  the  habit  uf  such  exer- 
tion, and  generally  becomes  as  stupid  and  ignorant  as  it  is  possible  for  a 
human  creature  to  become.  .  .  His  dexterity  at  his  own  particular 
trade  seems,  in  this  manner,  to  be  acquired  at  the  expense  of  his  intel- 
lectual, social,  and  martial  virtues."  -  WeaUh  of  Nations,  bk.  v.  chap  i 
Bohn  ed.,  ii,  p.  302.  ^'  ' 


THE  SOCIAUST  INDICTMENT 


SS 


4 


these  casualties,  so  long  as  it  involves  expense,  is  resisted. 
.  .  .  Life  is  but  a  bagatelle  when  it  stands  in  the  way  of 
profit."  1 

Equally  dangerous  in  the  long  run  are  the  artificial  and 
unsanitary  conditions  which  prevail  in  the  crowded  fac- 
tory. "We  shall  here  merely  allude,"  Marx  declares  in 
his  chief  work,  "to  the  material  conditions  under  which 
factory  labor  is  carried  on.  Every  organ  of  sense  is  injured 
in  an  equal  degree  by  artificial  elevation  of  temperature, 
by  th?  dust-laden  atmosphere,  by  the  deafening  noise.  .  .  . 
Economy  of  the  social  means  of  production,  matured  and 
formed  as  in  a  hot-house,  is  turned,  in  the  hands  of  capital, 
into  systematic  robbery  of  what  is  necessary  for  the  life 
of  the  workman  while  he  is  at  work  —  robbery  of  space, 
light,  air,  and  protection  to  his  person  against  the  danger- 
ous and  unwholesome  accompaniments  of  the  productive 
process,  not  to  mention  the  robbery  of  appliances  for  the 
comfort  of  the  worker.  ...  At  the  same  time  that  fac- 
tory work  exhausts  the  nervous  system  to  the  uttermost, 
it  does  away  with  the  many-sided  play  of  the  muscles  and 
confiscates  every  atom  of  freedom,  both  in  bodily  and  intel- 
lectual activity."  ^ 

For  all  the  exhausting  rigor  and  the  gray  monotony  of 
his  toil,  the  workman's  greatest  fear  is  lest  he  should  lose 
it.  Worse  than  want  is  the  constant  dread  and  fear  of 
want,  the  harrowing  insecurity  caused  by  the  perpetual 
menace  of  unemploynv  nt.  "The  position  of  the  working 
class  in  modern  society  is  so  unbearable,  and  compares  so 
unfavorably  with  every  former  method  of  production, 
not  because  the  worker  receives  only  a  fraction  of  the  new 
value  produced  by  him,  but  because  this  fractional  pay- 
ment is  combined  with  the  uncertainty  of  his  proletarian 
existence  ;  .  .  .  because  of  the  growing  impossibility  for 

•  Cihont,  Mass  and  Class,  pp.  234-253. 

'  Capital,  i,  translated  by  Moore  and  Aveling;  Humboldt  edition,  pp. 
260.261. 


84 


SOCIALISM 


J  i 


the  individual  workers  to  free  themselves  from  ♦he  double 
dependence  upon  the  employing  class  and  the  vicissitudes 
of  the  industrial  cycle;  because  of  the  constant  threat  of 
being  thrown  from  one  sphere  of  industry  into  another 
lower  one,  or  into  the  army  of  the  uncniploye  ." ' 

And  for  this  unremitting,  maiming,  and  precarious  toil, 
what  share  falls  to  the  workingman  when  the  time  for  the 
distribution  of  the  joint  product  comes?  What  possibilities 
of  decent  and  comfortable  livelihood  are  placed  at  his 
disposal?  So  small  a  share,  it  is  charged,  that  for  the  mass 
of  the  workers  the  existing  order  means  lifelong  poverty. 
What  wealth  is  produced  is  distributed  with  gross  and  in- 
credible unfairness.  To  the  few,  untold  millions  are  given, 
unlimited  command  over  the  lives  and  services  of  their 
fellows,  opportunity  for  boundless  luxury  and  maddening 
display;  to  the  many,  a  starving  pittance  which  barely 
holds  body  and  soul  together  and  shuts  out  all  hoi)e  of 
development  and  culture. 

"In  the  United  Kingdom,"  concludes  a  recent  social- 
istic investigator,  "out  of  a  population  of  43,000,000,  as 
many  as  38,000,000  are  poor.  ...  The  United  Kingdom 
IS  seen  to  contain  a  great  multitude  of  poor  people  ven- 
eered with  a  thin  layer  of  the  comfortable  and  the  rich. 
...  In  an  average  year  eight  millionaires  die  leaving 
between  them  three  times  as  much  wealth  as  is  left  by 
644,000  poor  persons  who  die  in  one  year.    Again,  in  a 
single  average  year,  the  wealth  left  by  the  few  rich  people 
who  die  approaches  in  amount  the  aggregate  property 
possessed  by  the  whole  of  the  living  poor.  .  .  .  About 
one  seventieth  part  of  the  population  owns  far  more  than 
one  half  of  the  entire  accumulated  wealth,  public  and 
private,  of  the  United  Kingdom."  ^  And  even  in  the  United 
States,  with  its  comparative  freedom  from  caste  and  in- 
herited privilege,  and  its  half  a  fertile  continent  to  exploit, 

"  Bernstein,  Ferdinand  Lassdle.  p.  135. 

•  Chiozza-Money.  Richea  and  Poverty,  pp.  43,  52, 72. 


"  i 


THE  SOCIALIST  INDICTMENT 


85 


another  socialist  charges  that  ten  million  people  are  sunk 
in  poverty,  four  million  of  them  in  receipt  of  relief.' 

The  fractional  share  of  the  national  dividend  which  falls 
to  the  manual  workers  makes  it  impossible  to  secure  any 
more  favorable  surroundings  for  the  hours  of  leisure  than 
for  the  hours  of  work.  For  the  pittance  that  can  go  for 
rent  there  are  available  only  drably  hideous,  overcrowded, 
and  unsanitary  dwellings.  Take  this  picture  of  Manchester, 
the  citadel  of  free  competition,  as  seen  half  a  century  ago 
by  Frederick  Engels:  — 

The  manner  in  which  the  great  multitude  of  the  poor  is 
treated  by  society  to-day  is  revolting.  They  are  drawn  into  the 
large  cities  where  they  breathe  a  p<wrer  atmosphere  than  in  the 
country;  they  are  relegated  to  districts  which,  by  reason  of  the 
methfxl  of  construction,  are  worse  ventilated  than  any  others; 
they  are  deprived  of  all  means  of  cleanliness,  of  water  itself, 
since  pipes  are  laid  only  when  paid  for,  and  the  rivers  so  polluted 
that  they  are  useless  for  such  purposes;  they  are  obliged  to  throw 
all  offal  and  garbage,  all  dirty  water,  often  all  disgusting  offal 
and  excrenKMil  itifo  the  streets,  Ix-Ing  without  other  means  of 
disposing  of  them.  ...  As  thouf^h  the  vitiated  atmosphere  of 
the  streets  were  not  enough,  they  are  penned  in  dozens  into 
single  rooms.  .  .  .  they  are  given  damp  dwellings,  cellar  dens 
that  are  not  waterproof  from  below,  or  garrets  that  leak  from 
above.  Their  houses  are  so  built  that  the  clammy  air  cannot 
escape.  .  .  .  The  view  from  the  bridge  is  characteristic  for  the 
whole  district.  At  the  bottom  flows,  or  rather  stagnates,  the  Irk, 
.1  narrow,  coal-black,  foul-smelling  stream,  full  of  debris  and 
r.  iise,  which  it  deposits  on  the  shallower  right  bank.  .  .  . 
Everywhere  heaps  of  del>ris,  refuse  and  offal;  standing  p(K)Is  for 
gutters,  and  a  stench  which  alone  would  make  it  impossible  for 
u  human  being  in  any  degree  civilized  to  live  in  such  a  district. 
.  .  .  The  whole  side  of  the  Irk  is  built  in  this  way,  a  planless, 
knotted  chaos  of  houses,  more  or  less  on  tlie  verge  of  uninhabit- 
ablcness,  whose  unclean  interiors  fully  correspond  with  their 
filthy  external  surroundings.  ...  In  truth  it  cannot  be  charged 
to  the  account  o'  these  helots  of  modern  society  if  their  dwellings 
are  not  more  cleanly  than  the  pigsties  which  arc  here  an<l  there 
to  be  seen  among  them.  .  .  .  My  description  is  far  from  black 
'  Hunter.  Poverty,  p.  60. 


I' 

'I- 


86 


SOCIAUSM 


enouRh  to  convey  a  true  impressioi;  of  the  filth,  ruin.  an.J  unin- 
hab,Uil.lone.s.s.  the  clelia.ue  of  all  .•<.ri.si,leratio...s  of  cKai.iines.s 
ventilation,  and  health  which  characterize  .  .  .  this  .listrict.'  ' ' 
Lest  it  be  said  that  such  clammy  hideousness  U'lonKs 
to  the  pre-sunitary  age  alone,  a  .socialist  of  to-duy  paints 
as  black  a  picture  of  a  qiiarter  of  twentieth-century  Chi- 
cago —  "back  of  the  Yards  ":  — 

From  the  ger  ral  air  of  hoRffishness  that  pervades  everything 
from  the  Reneral  manager's  offices  down  to  the  pens  beneath  the 
buildmgs  and  up  to  the  smoke  that  hangs  over  it  all.  the  whole 

thing  IS  purely  car.italistic [One's]    n.xstrils  are   assailed 

at  every  point  by  the  horribly  r)enetrating  stench  that  pervades 
everything.  .  .      Great  volumes  of  smoke  roll  from  the  forest 
of  chimneys  at  all  hours  of  the  day.  and  drift  down  over  the  lulp- 
ess  ne.ghborhoojl  like  a  .Jeep  black  curtain  that  fain  would  hide 
the  suffering  and  misery  it  aggravates.   The  foul  packing-house 
sewage,  loo  horribly  offensive  in  its  putrid  rottenness  for  further 
exploitation  even    by  monopolistic  greed,  is  spewed  forth  in  a 
multitude  of  arteries  of  filth  into  a  branch  of  the  Chicago  River 
at  one  crner  of  the  l^ards.  where  it  rises  to  the  top  and  spreads 
out  in  X  nameless  in<lescri},able  cake  of  festering  foulness  and 
disease-brechng  stench.  On  the  banks  of  this  slui.ewav  of  nasti- 
ness  are  several  acres  of  bristles  scraped  from  the  backs  of  in- 
numerable hogs  and  spread  out  to  allow  the  still  dinging  animal 
matter  to  rot  away  before  they  are  made  up  into  b.ushes.  . 
lom  Carey,  now  alderman  of  this  ward owns  long  rows 

tlTrf  "^u""'*  T^^'^^'^y  ^«"--^  i"  th-  'l««'l'.v  neighbor, 
hood.  Ihese  houses  have  no  connecticm  with  the  sewers,  and 
under  some  of  them  the  accumulation  of  years  of  filth  has  gath- 

bu.lt  in  the  firs  place  and  then  subjected  to  years  of  neglect, 
they  are  veritable  death-traps.  A  cast-iron  pull  with  the  Health 
Department  renders  him  safe  from  any  prosecution.^ 

Such  hoasing  conditions  as  these  mean  low  vitality  and 
constant  exposure  to  infection,  and  in  view  of  the  workers' 
mabihty  to  obtain  the  needed  rest  or  change  of  air  or 
expert  attention,  involve  a  death-roll  out  of  all  proportion. 

pp!  S^tl-S.  ^"^''''  ^'""^''''"'  "^""'  "''"^■'"''  ^'''**  '■"  ^"^'-""^  '■«  ^^ii- 

•  A.  M.  Simons.  Packingtown,  pp.  2,  9-10,  18-10. 


1 


THE  SOCIAUST  INDICTMENT 


87 


m 


•4 

■-JI 


"The  fact  that  an  average  town  manual  worker  lives  some 
fifteen  years  less  than  an  average  niemU'r  of  the  "ell-to- 
do  classes  is.  f)erliai)s,  the  largest  measurable  leakage  of 
social  working  jKiwer  with  which  we  are  confronted."  ^ 
It  is  on  the  helpless  children  Ihat  the  penalty  of  their 
parents'  f.iilure  in  the  race  for  wealth  chiefly  falls.  "Cap- 
italist society  is  sick  with  many  sores,"  a  recent  socialist 
tract  declares,  "but  of  all  the  pha.ses  of  its  disorder  none 
ofiFer  such  sure  portents  of  dissolution  as  the  official  sta- 
tistics of  infantile  disease  and  death.  .  .  .  The  bloodiest 
war  that  was  ever  waged  dealt  lightly  with  the  human 
family  in  comparison  with  the  toll  of  innocent  lives  un- 
ceasingly and  unnecessarily  offered  up  to  Mammon  in  the 
twentieth  century  of  the  Christian  dispensation.  ...  212 
babies  under  one  year  died  out  of  every  thousand  born  in 
industrial  Bromley  as  against  85  in  suburban  Hornsey, 
...  77  in  prosperous  Hampstead  as  against  163  in  poverty- 
stricken  Shoreditch.  .  .  .  Whether  it  be  the  industrial 
labor  of  mothers  in  dangerous  trades  or  too  near  their 
confinement,  the  malnutrition  of  the  children,  the  alcohol- 
ism or  degeneracy  in  one  or  both  parents,  overcrowding 
with  its  attendant  evils  of  overlaying  and  dirt,  all  alike 
are  traceable  to  the  inhuman  condition  into  which  millions 
of  the  workers  are  forced  by  the  exploitation  of  their 
labor."  2 

What  is  the  effect  of  comj)etitive  industrialism  on  moral 
life?  Here  again  the  tally  against  capitalism  is  marked 
deep  in  the  socialist  stick.  "Next  to  intemperance  in  the 
enjoyment  of  intoxicating  liquors,"  declares  Engols,  "one 
of  the  principal  faults  of  English  workingmen  is  sexual 
license.  But  this  too  follows  with  relentless  logic,  with 
inevitable  necessity,  out  of  the  position  of  a  class  left  to 
itself,  with  no  means  of  making  fitting  use  of  its  freedom. 

"  Hobson,  The  Social  Problem,  p.  10. 

'  Fisher,  The  Babies'  Tribute  to  the  Modern  Moloch.  Twentieth  Century 
Press  (S.  D.  P.).  pp.  4-6,  15. 


88 


SOCIALISM 


The  bourgeoisie  has  left  the  working  class  only  these  two 
pleu-surt's,  while  iuiiwsing  upon  it  a  multitude  of  labors 
and  hardshii)s,  and  the  consetiuence  is  that  the  working- 
men,  in  order  to  get  something  from  life,  concentrate  their 
whole  energy  u]xm  these  two  enjoyments,  carry  them  to 
excess,  surrender  to  them  in  the  most  unbridled  manner."  ' 
The  dull  monotony  of  existen(x>  drives  them  to  "boozinf, 
and  gambling  and  allied  forms  of  excitement,"  even 
though  "in  its  ordinary  relations  the  great  bulk  of  the 
wage-earning  class  remains  thoroughly  permeated  with 
common  social  morality."*  German  testimony  is  to  the 
same  effect.*  The  insufficiency  of  the  wages  upon  which 
many  a  hard-working  girl  is  supposed  to  keep  Ixxly  and 
soul  together  forces  recourse  "to  the  oldest  trade  in  the 
world.  Not  till  we  measure  [this  element  in  wages]  will 
the  world  know  the  true  cost  of  'cheap  labor.'"  ♦  Family 
life  becomes  impossible,  what  with  the  absence  of  the 
father  and  often  of  the  mother  all  day  long,  the  frequency 
of  marriage  merely  for  the  su[)i)ort  which  the  woman  can- 
not otherwise  obtain,  the  promiscuity  and  crowding  o{  the 
workers'  hon-'?s.  "Thus  the  social  order  makes  family  life 
almost  impossible  for  the  worker.  In  a  comfortless,  filthy 
house  ...  a  foul  atmosphere  filling  rooms  overcrowded 

"  Condition  of  the  Working  Clam,  p.  148. 

•  Sydney  Olivier,  in  Fahian  Esmys,  .American  edition,  p.  IIS. 

•  "I  Ix-lieve  that  in  the  whole  luboring  class  of  Chtiiinitz  it  woiiid 
be  hard  to  find  a  younj?  man  or  a  young  woman  over  s<  vent«n.  whi  ■» 
chaste.  Sexual  intercourse,  largely  the  product  of  thesi  danrr-hull?-.  «»« 
assumed  enormous  proportions  among  the  youth  of  lo-day  " — (jou-s;. 
Three  Months  in  a  Workshop,  pp.  40)4-403. 

•  Smart,  {studies  in  Economics,  p.  149. 

"It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  in  the  department  ston^  of  the  lanw 
cities  girls  are  employed  for  the  small  sum  of  ft.i.,"itl  per  <»eek.  E'h=^  a 
tht>y  live  at  home  without  paying  board  they  could  not  pa  their  caioiwr 
and  dress  as  well  as  they  are  obliged  to  do  to  hold  the;-  olaces,  ^hej  ar 
frankly  told  that  they  have  other  means  of  ejirniii;.*  ivinr  if  -mrj  mn' 
not  satisfied  with  the  wages  they  get,  and  none  will  c;  t^nite  r~  unit  raim 
of  them  are  obliged  to  use  th(»fte  means."  —  May  Wakesa  K— r.  ■>« 
and  the  Home,  p.  2#. 


3 

i 
i 


THE  SOCIAUST  INDICTMENT  99 

with  human  being's,  no  <K..nestic  comfort  is  {lossible.  The 
hushjind  works  the  whole  day  Ihrou^'h,  perhaps  the  wife 
uls«»  and  the  elder  ehildren.  all  in  different  places;  they 
meet  tnoriiin-,'  and  night  only,  all  under  jx-rpetual  tempta- 
tion to  drink;  what  family  life  is  possible  under  such  con- 
ditions?"' 

And  then  so<iely  adds  insult  to  injury  by  l)Ianiing  on 
the  individual  the  lapses  its  own  F)erver>e  so<iul  urranf,'e- 
ments  have  caused.    "When  we  have  bound  the  lalwrer 
fast  to  his  wheel."  comments  Sidney  \Vel)»),  "when  we 
have  practically  excluded    the  avera^'e  man  froju  every 
real  chance  of  improving  his  condition,   when   we  have 
virtually  denied  to  him  the  means  of  sharing  in  the  higher 
feelings  and  larger  sympathies  of  the  cultured  rac-e;  when 
we  ha\e  shortened  his  life  in  our  service,  stunted  his 
growth   in  our  factories,   racked   liini    with   unnecessary 
dist>ast>  by  our  exactiims,  tortured  his  soul  with  that  worst 
of  all  i)ains,  the  fear  of  poverty,  condemned  his  wife  and 
children  to  sicken  and  die  In'fore  his  eyes,  in  spite  of  his 
own  |)erijetual  round  of  toil  —  then  we  are  aggrieved  that 
he  often  loses  ho|)e,  gambles  fi)r  the  windfall  that  is  denied 
to  his  industry,  attempts  to  drown  his  cares  in  drink,  and, 
driven  by  his  misery  irresistibly  down  the  steep  hill  of 
vice,  passes  into  that  evil  circle  where  vice  begets  poverty 
and  poverty  intensifies  vice,  until  Society  unrelentingly 
stamps  him  out  as  vermin.  Thereupon  we  lay  the  flatter- 
ing unction  to  our  souls  that  it  was  his  own  fault,  that  he 
bad  his  chance,  and  we  preach  to  his  fellows  thri'*  and 
temperance,  prudence  and  virtue,  but  always  industry, 
that  in<lustry  of  others  that  keeps  the  industrial  machine 
in  motion,  so  that  we  can  still  enjoy  the  opportunity  of 
taxing  it."  ^ 

The  quotations  given  alrove  fairly  represent,  it  is  be- 
lieved, the  tone  and  the  content  of  the  socialist  indictment 

'  Engels,  op.  cit.,  p.  149. 

•  Eitgluh  Progr^  t-^a^o.-^  DunaKTScy.  FablaSi  Tract  no.  15,  p.  7. 


m 


4.  SI 


rT.i 


■^S'^.  •^j..--' 


u'j%pif^ 


»1 


40 


SOCIALISM 


as  it  is  presented  in  the  current  party  literature.  They 
scarcely  do  justice,  howiver,  to  the  powers  of  invective 
devoloped  in  the  soap-boxer's  nightly  tirades,  which  rarely 
find  their  way  into  sobering  print.  As  an  illustration  of 
the  more  extreme  denunciation  to  which  popular  audi- 
ences are  treated,  and  incidentally  as  an  example  of  the 
capacities  of  the  English  language,  the  following  outburst 
may  serve;  it  was  occasioned  by  the  jury's  finding  Hay- 
wood, ex-president  of  the  Western  Miners'  Federation,  not 
guilty  of  the  charges  of  murder  in  the  Colorado  labor  war: 

"Not  guilty!" 

What  an  immeasurable,  imperishable  victory! 

What  a  glorious  consummation  of  one  united,  heroic  struggle 
of  a  nation's  crucified  toilers!  What  an  awakening  hope  for  the 
world's  disinherited! 

A  million  calloused  hands  snatched  Haywood,  the  true,  from 
the  despoiler's  gallows  at  the  very  hour  when  gathered  together 
the  wolves,  the  jackals,  the  vultures  and  vampires  —  scum  and 
scurf  of  heU's  outpouring  —  to  slake  their  thirst  in  our  brother's 
blood. 

Knowing  full  well  his  impurchasable  fidelity  to  his  class  and 
fearmg  his  influence  among  their  wretched  victims,  half  mad- 
dened to  revolt,  every  cunning  tyrant  and  trickster  in  this  greed- 
cursed  nation,  every  snake-eyed  Shylock  smirking  and  hissing, 
exactmg  his  "pound  of  flesh,"  every  debaucher  and  exploiter  of 
the  weak  and  helpless,  every  prowler  and  panderer  and  p!un<lerer 
of  the  nation,  every  Ioath,some  apologist  and  cringing  sycophant 
in  press  and  pulpit,  ear-deep  in  the  mire,  rooting  for  crumbs  in 
their  master's  stall;  every  slave-driver,  blood-sucker,  and  knee- 
crookmg  vagabond  of  this  hell-born  coterie  of  "law  and  order" 
pismires  joined  in  a  mighty  wail  as  of  all  the  fiends  in  hell  in 
chorus  for  the  blood  of  Haywmxl,  as  they  cried  for  the  blood  of 
Parsons  and  his  comrades  some  twenty  years  ago.^ 

Methinks  the  lady  doth  protest  too  much. 

•  J.  Edward  Morgan,  Chicago  Daily  Socialiat.  August  8,  1907. 


jm-^'s^i^itsam 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  INDICTMENT  CONSIDERED 

The  indictment  is  a  serious  one.  A  social  order  against 
which  such  charges  can  be  laid  with  any  color  of  reason 
cannot  be  considered  perfect  by  even  the  most  easy-going 
of  optimists.  The  socialist  who  focuses  attention  on  the 
weak  spots  in  the  industrial  structure  performs  a  valuable 
service,  lessened  though  the  service  may  be  by  the  whole- 
sale and  indiscriminating  character  of  the  denunciation. 
Candid  recognition  of  the  full  extent  of  existing  evils  is 
the  indispensable  first  step  in  progress  and  reform.  Yet  the 
indictment  recorded  fails  to  carry  conviction  to  the  \u. 
partial  observer.   It  is  beyond  doubt  one-sided  and  ex- 
aggerated, the  truth  it  contains  nullified  by  the  truth  it 
neglects%  The  socialist  has  painted  existing  conditions  too 
black.   He  has  grudged  full  recognition  of  the  immensely 
strong  points  of  our  industrial  system.    He  directs  his 
shafts  against  a  mythical  extreme  individualism,  ignoring 
the  restrammg  social  forces  implicit  in  the  existing  order 
forces  fully  as  characteristic  as  the  scope  and  play  which 
in  the  main  are  permitted  to  individual  ambition  and  in- 
dividual initiative.   He  has  thrown  the  undivided  blame 
for  all  the  worid's  misery  and  failure  on  social  institutions, 
on  the  tools  men  use,  rather  than  on  the  limitations  of  the 
purely  human  men  who  use  them. 

The  socialist  has  painted  too  black  a  picture.  It  is  not 
merely  that  he  has  contrasted  the  dreamed  ideals  of 
socialism  with  the  actualities  of  the  competitive  order-  he 
has  viewed  those  actualities  out  of  all  perspective.  In  his 
survey  of  society  the  one  instance  of  failure  is  ever  present 
to  his  gaze,  the  nine  of  success  do  not  come  withm  the 


M 


it! 


V'i'»"'.i'Ji'*l^lI5">  ■■•'.i-; 


i    i 


I    I 


42 


SOCIALISM 


range  of  his  misery-focused  lens.  He  cannot  see  the  woods 
for  the  few  decaying  branches  on  the  trees.    His  ear  is 
attuned  only  to  inharmonies.    He  sees  the  reeking  fester 
of  the  slum,  but  is  blind  to  the  millions  of  homes  in  city 
and  town  and  country  where  hard  work  brings  forth  its 
fruits  of  modest  comfort  and  life  is  held  well  worth  the 
living.   He  is  alert  to  the  occasional  failure  in  adjustment 
of  supply  and  demand,  but  passes  over  the  continuous 
miracle  by  which  the  products  of  the  ends  of  the  earth  are 
brought  to  each  man's  door  and  the  7'orld's  markets  made 
one.  He  culls  industriously  the  instances  of  graft  and  dis- 
honesty in  contemporary  business  life,  no  difl5cult  task, 
and  presents  them  as  typical  of  current  practice,  forgetting 
the  sound  honesty  of  the  majority  that  provides  the  drab 
background  for  the  scarlet  sins,  forgetting  that  no  endur- 
ing commercial  structure  can  be  built  on  fraud,  that  gen- 
eral honesty  and  fair  dealing  are  absolutely  indispensable 
to  the  working  of  our  complicated  and  interdependent 
industrial  system,  that  the  fabric  of  credit  that  the  past 
few  generations  have  reared  posits  a  general  high  standard 
of  business  ethics  —  not  the  perfect  standard  of  the  closet 
moralist,  but  a  pretty  presentable  work-a-day  approxima- 
tion; that,  in  short,  unless  there  existed  a  general  ex- 
pectation of  squareness,  bom  of  experience,  the  operations 
of  the  exceptional  crook  would  be  impossible.   He  is  like 
the  yellow  journal  which  mirrors,  not  life,  but  the  excep- 
tional sensation  and  crime  that  mar   life;  leaves  John 
Smith  in  obscurity  if  for  a  lifetime  he  does  honest  work  and 
devotes  himself  to  his  home  interests,  and  exalts  him  to 
front-page  publicity  if  on  a  day  he  loses  himself  in  drink 
and  murders  half  the  family. 

The  socialist  indictment  gives  but  grudging  recognition 
or  none  to  the  proved  and  tried  efficiency  of  the  existing 
order.  Under  an  industrial  system  based  on  private  pro- 
perty and  individual  competition,  the  most  powerful  and 
abiding  force  in  human  nature,  self-interest,  which  includes 


THE  INDICTMENT  CONSIDERED  4S 

the  interest  in  the  wider  self,  the  family,  is  harnessed  in 
society's  service.   The  prizes  in  the  struggle  —  not  mere 
heaped-up  and  hoarded  dollars,  but  the  prestige  of  success, 
the  power  that  money  gives,  the  opportunities  of  enjoy- 
ment or  of  service  it  opens  —  fall  in  the  main  to  those  who 
most  widely  and  most  efficiently  have  met  the  economic 
needs  of  their  fellows.  The  price  of  success  is  alertness  to 
seize  on  every  uncatered  opportunity ;  courage  to  break 
new  trails;  ability  to  make  the  process  of  production  more 
efficient,  the  integration  and  adjustment  of  industry  more 
thorough,  the  fitting  of  ability  to  task  more  complete; 
keenness  to  stop  all  leakages  and  wastes,  unremitting 
striving  to  outbid  one's  fellows  by  offering  most  for  least. 
"The  stimulus  of  private  property,"  wrote  Arthur  Young 
a  century  ago,  "turns  the  sands  to  gold."  It  is  not  implied 
that  personal  interest  is  the  "ole  force  at  the  disposal  of  a 
society  based  on  private  property.  Altruistic  motives  find 
ever  wider  scope.  More  and  more  under  the  existing  order 
men  are  animated  by  the  desire  to  serve  their  fellows,  both 
in  the  day's  work  and  out  of  the  wealth  a  life  of  work  has 
garnered.  Never  was  the  social  conscience  so  keen,  never 
was  the  sense  of  the  trusteeship  of  wealth  so  widespread, 
never  was  the  organization  of  philanthropy  and  public 
service  so  complete.  But  the  effectiveness  of  the  altruistic 
motive  is  no  reason  for  disregarding  the  self-seeking  spur  to 
action.   Both  must  be  utilized.   The  task  of  meeting  the 
needs  of  the  millions  who  every  day  grow  more  ambitious 
in  their  standards  and  more  insistent  in  their  demands  is 
too  tremendous  to  make  it  possible  to  discard  the  instru- 
ment which  has  been  found  of  most  effective  service.  Indi- 
vidual ambition  wiU  always  keep  men's  demands  on  life 
high.  Individual  ambition  must  be  harnessed  to  keep  the 
supply  as  high. 

Individual  initiative  docs  not  involve  individual  isola- 
tion. Its  complement  is  voluntary  cooperation.  Stock- 
holders in  a  corporation,  artisans  in  a  trade  union,  farmers 


II 


■hi 


^i 


^;V./Hi        '-f<f 


»*.*'.. 


4 


I    ! 


I 
■! 


44 


SOCIAUSM 


if 


in  a  purchasing  or  selling  syndicate  seek  the  strength  that 
comes  from  union.  Mutual  aid  knits  up  the  otherwise  scat- 
tered and  incoherent  forces.  Society  must  not  be  confused 
with  the  state.  Compulsory  cooperation  is  not  the  only 
alternative  to  individualist  anarchy.  Society  is  inexhaust- 
ibly fertile  in  its  spontaneous  groupings:  religious,  political, 
scientific,  charitable,  commercial  interests  draw  men 
together  in  countless  associations.  We  are  caught  in  a 
thousand  strands. 

Nor  does  individual  initiative  in  meeting  economic  wants 
involve  a  serious  lack  of  adjustment  between  demand  and 
supply.  It  might  seem  at  first  glance  that  without  central 
supervision  harmonious  cooperation  would  be  impossible, 
that  the  competitive  system,  faced  for  example  with  the 
task  of  the  daily  provisioning  of  New  York  or  London, 
would  break  down  under  the  task,  alternating  between 
unforeseen  glut  and  unforeseen  famine.  But  the  miracle 
is  every  day  f)erformed.  The  fact  is  that  in  great  totals 
chance  is  self-canceled;  a  defection  here  offsets  an  acces- 
sion there.  There  is  really  nothing  less  arbitrary,  less  un- 
predictable than  the  sequences  of  social  phenomena.  Births 
and  deaths,  marriages  and  divorces,  suicides  and  murders, 
the  posting  of  letters  without  any  address,  occur  year  in  and 
year  out  with  remarkable  regularity.  And  so  with  the  affairs 
of  trade  and  industry :  without  any  conscious,  centralized 
compulsion  demand  and  supply  approximate,  not  with  ex- 
act precipion,  it  is  true,  but  without  serious  gaps  in  normal 
times.  Even  if  we  adopt  the  favorite  socialist  conception 
of  society  as  an  organism,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the 
chief  organic  movements  of  the  human  body  are  carried  on 
without  conscious  volition  or  reflection.  If  every  breath, 
every  heart-beat,  had  to  be  consciously  and  separately 
willed,  neither  the  bodily  nor  the  mental  functions  would 
be  performed  with  much  success.* 

The  mechanism  by  which  equilibrium  is  secured  between 
'  Cf.  Leroy-Bcauliea,  Le  CoUectimme,  p.  318. 


••;,-* 


•1  -     T-i-i.. 


km 


^-.-   ^i 


g^ 


THE  INDICTMENT  CONSIDERED 


45 


the  demand  of  widely  scattered  consumers  and  the  supply 
forthcoming  from  independent  producers  is  simply  price 
variation.  The  oscillations  of  the  money  price  of  commod- 
ities act  as  a  barometer  for  the  producers'  guidance.  If  an 
insuflScient  proportion  of  the  productive  forces  of  a  country 
is  engaged  in  cotton  manufacture,  the  rise  of  price  of  cotton 
goods,  or  rather  the  increase  of  the  margin  between  cost 
and  sale  price,  indicates  an  opportunity  for  more  than  aver- 
age gain,  and  new  capital  pours  in  until  the  equilibrium  is 
restored.  If  too  large  a  share  is  turned  into  the  channel  of 
boot  and  shoe  production,  the  fall  of  price  or  profit  efifects 
the  same  adjustment.  The  purchasing  power  of  the  con- 
suming public  may  not  be  fairly  distributed,  judged  by 
some  abstract  principle  of  justice,  may  not  be  rationally 
directed,  judged  by  some  sociological  canon  cf  expenditure, 
but  distributed  and  directed  as  it  is,  it  secures  in  marvel- 
ous fashion,  through  the  price  oscillations  of  a  competi- 
tive economy,  the  most  eflBcient  disposition  of  the  product- 
ive forces.  It  is  the  very  simplicity  and  familiarity  of  the 
mechanism  of  price  variation  which  leads  superficial  critics 
of  social  institutions  to  overlook  its  remarkably  eflBcient 
services. 

The  institutions  of  private  property  and  individual  com- 
petition are  based,  not  on  blind  traditionalism  or  class 
oppression  but  on  the  experience  which  all  the  progressive 
races  of  mankind  have  attained  of  their  social  utility  and 
their  flexible  adaptability  to  changing  social  needs.  Priv- 
ate property  has  ousted  the  primitive  communism  which 
preceded  it  simply  because  it  has  been  found  to  be  the  pro- 
perty form  most  conducive  to  industrial  progress  and  ef- 
ficiency. To-day,  when  the  socialist  is  urging  mankind  to 
retrace  its  steps  and  set  up  once  more  the  institutions  it  has 
outgrown,  the  Russian  Duma  acknowledges  the  superiority 
of  private  ownership  by  sweeping  away  the  common  land- 
holding  system  of  the  Mir.  Doubtless  private  property  has 
its  drawbacks,  its  wastes  and  its  failures,  but  the  test  of 


«» ■ 


I 

I' 


m^^ 


r^«^^^ 


48 


SOCIALISM 


;  f 


f^ 


efficiency  in  any  social  institution  is  not  the  impossible  one 
of  unqualified  perfection  but  the  degree  of  service  over  cost, 
the  net  balance  of  advantage.  So  incalculably  great  is  the 
driving  force  which  the  stimulus  of  private  interest  sup- 
es  that  even  such  a  thorough-going  critic  as  Professor 
Veblen  sums  up  his  indictment  of  the  social  waste  of  much 
competitive  effort  by  declaring :  "  While  it  is  in  the  nature  of 
things  unavoidable  that  the  management  of  industry  by 
modem  business  methods  should  involve  a  large  misdirec- 
tion of  effort  and  a  large  waste  of  goods  and  services,  it  is 
also  true  that  the  aims  and  ideals  to  which  this  manner 
of  economic  life  gives  effect  act  forcibly  to  offset  all  this 
incidental  futility.   These  pecuniary  aims  and  ideals  have 
a  very  great  effect,  for  instance,  in  making  men  work  hard 
and  unremittingly,  so  that  on  this  ground  alone  the  busi- 
ness system  probably  compensates  for  any  waste  involved 
in  its  working.   There  seems,  therefore,  to  be  no  tenable 
pound  for  thinking  that  the  working  of  the  modern  system 
involves  a  curtailment  of  the  community's  livelihood."  * 

The  socialist  indictment  errs,  therefore,  in  ignoring  the 
strong  features  of  a  competitive  system,  its  positive  advan- 
tages, and  stressing  out  of  all  proportion  the  weak  points, 
the  negative  deductions.  Yet  what  of  these  weak  points! 
these  unsocial  tendencies  charged  against  competition,  the 
poisonous  adulteration,  the  young  children  stunted  at 
the  loom,  the  careless  waste  of  human  life  in  the  pursuit  of 
material  wealth  ?  In  or  out  of  proportion,  they  are  none 
the  less  real.   No  impartial  observer  of  contemporary  con- 
ditions can  maintain  that  individual  and  social  interests 
invariably  coincide,  that  in  the  race  for  wealth  only  those 
succeed  who  have  best  served  their  fellows.  The  frequently 
dangerous  and  unwholesome  tendencies  of   unregulated 
competition  are  a  patent  fact.  The  socialist  error  here  lies 
not  in  any  mis-statement  of  these  tendencies  but  in  the 
failure  to  recognize  the  counteracting  forces  at  work.   In 

*  Theory  of  Business  Enterprise,  p.  G5. 


.:^^lR»«IPIHiS^iBSSI^P^^ 


THE  INDICTMENT  CONSIDERED 


47 


many  cases  the  self-interest  of  one  section  or  group  suffices 
to  thwart  the  injurious  tenaencies  of  the  self-interest  of 
another  group.  And  where  this  recourse  fails,  the  power 
of  the  state  may  be  invoked  to  hold  the  balance  fair. 

If  our  existing  industrial  organization  were  committed 
to  a  laissez-faire  acceptance  of  the  results,  good  and  bad 
alike,  of  unregulated  competition,  the  position  of  its  social- 
ist opponent  would  be  a  strong  one.  But  fortunately  for 
society  such  an  extreme  doctrinaire  attitude  does  not  pre- 
vail. Our  existing  society  is  not  of  individualism  all  com- 
pact. In  it,  as  in  every  other  society  since  time  began,  there 
have  been  combined  the  complementary  forces  of  individ- 
ual initiative  and  social  control.  They  have  been  com- 
bined in  varying  proportions,  now  the  one  force  dominat- 
ing, now  the  other.  Following  the  excess  of  state  regulation 
in  the  early  stages  of  modem  industrial  development,  there 
came  the  excessive  license  of  the  early  nineteenth  century. 
The  manufacturer  was  led  by  unenlightened  selfishness  to 
resist  all  restraint;  the  public  was  blinded  to  the  human 
cost  by  the  tremendous  increase  in  material  productivity; 
the  economist,  in  his  more  doctrinaire  moods,  assumed  a 
harmony  of  social  and  individual  interest  providential  in 
its  completeness.  Yet  the  complacency  was  short-lived. 
The  public  came  to  realize  that  individualism  pure  and  un- 
defiled  was  at  one  with  socialism  in  requiring  for  its  success- 
ful working  a  perfected  human  nature.  A  new  system  of 
regulation  aiming  at  raising  competition  to  a  higher  level 
began  to  take  shape  long  before  the  destruction  of  the  old 
system  of  regulation,  aiming  at  the  repression  of  competi- 
tion, approached  completion.  The  first  factory  act,  regu- 
lating the  employment  of  apprentices,  was  passed  in  Great 
Britain  in  1802,  over  fifty  years  before  the  protective  tariff 
was  co.npletely  overthrown.  The  pendulum  still  swings  in 
the  same  direction.  More  and  more  the  modern  state  is 
realizing  its  true  function  of  raising  the  ethical  level  of 
competition,  retaining  the  struggle  while  insisting  that  it 


nt 


A^;^^^  'Wt^rn^^^. 


.1 

I 

i 


f 


I        ' 


48 


SOCIALISM 


shall  not  be  carried  on  at  the  expense  of  the  weak  and  help- 
less. While  it  declines  to  follow  the  advice  of  the  socialist 
and  play  the  whole  game  itself,  the  state  gives  inestimable 
service  by  acting  as  referee. 

The  socialist  complaint  that  under  a  rdgime  of  individual 
enterprise  important  utilities  will  fail  to  be  provided  be- 
cause yielding  no  profit  that  may  be  privately  appropri- 
ated would  hold  good  against  the  mythical  laissez-faire 
bogey  it  attacks,  but  has  little  application  in  the  case  of  the 
actual  state.  Even  Adam  Smith's  statement  of  the  irre- 
ducible minimum  of  state  functions  included  "the  duty  of 
erecting  and  maintaining  certain  public  works  and  certain 
public  institutions,  which  it  can  never  be  for  the  interest 
of  any  individual,  or  small  number  of  individuals,  to  erect 
and  maintain;  because  the  profit  would  never  repay  the 
expense  to  any  individual  or  small  number  of  individuals, 
though  it  may  frequently  do  much  more  than  repay  it  to 
a  great  society."  *  The  principle  is  a  far-reaching  one,  and 
has  guided  and  justified  a  wide  programme  of  governmental 
encouragement  to  production  and  commerce  as  well  as  of 
social  reform,  from  the  provision  of  lighthouses  to  the  pro- 
vision of  supervised  playgrounds.  Especially  important 
has  been  the  r61e  of  the  state  as  the  conservator  of  society's 
permanent  interests.  It  is  a  r61e  which  has  not  always  been 
assumed  as  promptly  and  played  as  whole-heartedly  as 
might  be  desired;  the  tardiness  of  American  governments 
in  following  European  example  in  preserving  the  forests  is 
a  case  in  point,  due  in  part,  it  is  true,  to  the  short-sighted 
hostility  of  private  interest,  but  in  j  art  also  to  the  difficulty 
of  readjusting  conceptions  formed  in  the  days  of  seemingly 
illimitable  resources  to  the  needs  of  a  less  sanguine  and 
more  thrifty  time,  and  in  part  to  the  characteristic  and 
crippling  lack  of  initiative  in  state  administration.  Even 
where  governmental  intervention  has  been  invoked  to  sup- 
ply the  lack  of  individual  profit-making  enterprise,  it  has 
•  Wealth  of  Naiioru,  bk.  iv,  chap,  ix,  Bobn  edition,  ii,  p.  807. 


>e»   J^-.':^^-:f--^ 


THE  INDICTMENT  CONSIDERED 


as  a  rule  been  made  possible  only  by  long  agitation  and 
pressure  from  without  by  individuals  or  voluntary  associa- 
tions. 

The  socialist  complains  that  in  the  competitive  struggle 
the  weaklings  are  trampled  on,  and  hastily  cries  out  for  the 
abolition  of  competition  and  the  assumption  of  industrial 
functions  by  the  all-wise  and  all-kindly  state.  The  remedy 
actually  applied  has  been  the  saner  one  of  preserving  com- 
petition while  endeavoring  to  make  the  weaklings  fit  for  the 
fray,  training  all  to  take  a  manful  and  intelligent  part  in 
the  struggle  for  existence.  In  nearly  every  industrial  state, 
though  in  greatly  varying  degree,  the  government  supple- 
ments the  efforts  of  the  family  and  of  individual  and  organ- 
ized philanthropy  to  insure  that  every  child  grows  up  in 
sanitary  surroundings,  that  he  is  given  the  cultural  and 
vocational  education  to  equip  him  for  living  as  well  as 
for  making  a  living,  that  wholesome  recreation  facilities 
are  brought  within  his  reach,  and  that  he  is  not  prema- 
turely swept  into  the  industrial  struggle,  before,  on  its 
lowest  terms,  his  full  economic  eflSciency  has  been  devel- 
oped. Much  yet  remains  to  be  done  even  in  the  most 
advanced  countries;  much  to  bring  the  more  backward  to 
their  level;  the  very  benevolence  of  modem  society  tends 
to  complicate  its  problems  by  preserving  many  halt  and 
weak  who  would  otherwise  have  gone  down  in  the  fray;  the 
immigration  of  countless  hordes  of  peoples  from  the  coun- 
tries not  yet  organized  on  a  competitive  industrial  basis  — 
the  factoryless  paradises  of  southeastern  Europe  and  of 
Asia,  where  the  "  blight  of  capitalism  "  has  not  yet  seriously 
entered — into  the  capitalistic  countries  which  they  unac- 
countably prefer,  ^  makes  the  task  of  training  never  ending. 

•  It  is  significant  that  the  worst  abuses  to  which  the  socialist  can  point 
are  not  properly  chargeable  to  the  capitalism  he  indicts.  The  horrors  of 
the  sweatshop  are  the  result  of  the  lingering  survival  of  the  primitive  do- 
mestic or  handicraft  system;  the  much-abused  capitalistic  factory  is  free 
from  the  worst  of  the  ills  to  which  the  isolated  producer  is  subject.  And 
at  lep^st  so  far  .as  America  is  concerned,  the  low  standards  of  living  and 


M 


m 

♦  !■" 


-iiifai-A 


f>,-  - 


mA 


'd 


i  I' 

I- 


^f^ 


50 


SOCULISM 


But  it  is  a  task  which  b  competitive  society  must  face  or 
perish,  and  it  is  being  manfully  fac-ed  and  enc-ouragingly 
accomplished.     ' 

Competition,  the  socialist  charges,  may  be  carried  on  at 
the  expense  of  the  consumer,  increasing  the  price  he  must 
pay  for  his  wares  and  debasing  their  quality.  The  paradox- 
ical assertion  of  increased  prices  is  based  on  the  assumption 
that  the  middleman  is  merely  a  parasite  on  industry,  or, 
if  his  potential  productive  service  is  recognized,  that' too 
great  a  number  of  middlemen  are  engaged  in  commerce, 
with  resultant  expense  for  the  consumers  on  whom  they 
are  quartered.  The  attitude  is  of  long  standing.  In  medi- 
eval times  the  socialist's  ancestor  passed  strict  laws  against 
the  evil  machinations  of  the  forestaller  and  the  engrosser 
who  came  between  the  producer  and  the  ultimate  con- 
sumer.  The  socialist  of  to-day  suffers  from  the  same  in- 
ability  to  grasp  the  elementary  fact  that  the  utilities  of 
time  and  space  may  be  as  real  as  the  utilities  of  form 
and  content.  The  merchant  who  brings  the  cloth  to  the 
consumer's  town  and  stores  it  until  the  demand  arises, 
performs  as  essential  service  as  the  rancher  who  grew  the 
wool  or  the  weaver  who  wove  the  yam  into  cloth.  Wlicn 
again,  it  is  charged  that  free  competition  inevitably  lures 
into  commerce  more  merchants  than  are  needed,  the  ques- 
tion turns  on  the  measure  of  need,  on  the  degree  of  special- 
ization of  function  desired.  Doubtless  in  any  city  it  would 
be  possible  to  exist  with  only  half  the  present  number  of 
stores,  possible  even  to  concentrate  custom  on  a  single 
central  establishment  in  each  line,  but  it  would  be  pos- 
sible only  by  sacrificing  the  time  and  convenience  of  the 
thousands  of  customers,  by  throwing  on   the  consumer 
part  of  the  burden  of  storage  and  distribution  which  in 
a  fully  organized   division  of  labor   is  assumed    by  the 
merchant.  The  gain  would  be  as  illusory  as  the  gain  of  the 

overcrowded  conditions  which  excite  compassion  are  chiefly  to  be  found 
among  newcomers  from  non-capitalistic  countries. 


THE  INDICTMENT  CONSIDERED 


«1 


busy  professional  man  who  would  seek  to  economize  by 
making  liis  own  shoes,  or  typewriting  his  own  correspond- 
ence. 

Or  it  is  from  adulteration  and  scamj)ing  of  work  that  the 
consumer  is  said  to  suffer.  Rivalry  in  price-cutting  leads 
the  more  unscrupulous  to  sand  the  sugar  and  pajwr-sole  the 
shoe;  the  anonymity  and  the  continental  scale  of  modern 
production,  far  afield  from  the  conditions  of  handicraft 
days,  when  producer  and  consumer  lived  side  by  side  and 
a  care  for  reputation  safeguarded  quality,  make  it  impos- 
sible to  detect  the  fraud.  The  indictment  has  only  too 
much  truth,  but  here  again  it  ignores  the  possibilities  of 
remedy  inherent  in  the  existing  system.  To  an  increasing 
extent  the  self-interest  of  the  producer  effects  a  cure.  Com- 
petition is  at  work  not  merely  in  price  but  in  quality,  wher- 
ever the  credit  for  quality  may  Ix;  secured.  The  employ- 
ment of  distinctive  hib<>ls  and  trademarks,  the  growing  use 
of  package-goods,  brought  to  the  consumer's  attention  by 
advertising,  do  away  with  the  anonymity  of  production 
and  protect  the  consumer  by  locating  the  responsibility. 
Of  narrower  range,  but  still  important,  is  the  allied  protec- 
tion which  the  union  label  affords  in  some  lines,  particu- 
larly against  the  danger  of  infection  by  commodities  pro- 
duced in  unsanitary  surroundings.  Yet  a  third  remedy  is 
afforded  by  government  inspection,  analysis,  and  publicity, 
particularly  adaptable  to  the  cases  where  the  average 
buyer  is  not  qualified  to  make  the  necessary  tests. 

Or  it  is  financial  rather  than  commercial  fraud  which  is 
emphasized.  The  investor,  it  is  claimed,  is  as  much  at  the 
mercy  of  the  unscrupulous  promoter  as  the  consumer  is  at 
the  mercy  of  the  unscrupulous  manufacturer;  the  anonym- 
ity of  the  joint -stock  company  cloaks  as  much  rascality 
as  the  anonymity  of  consumption  goods.  The  case  is  not 
so  hopeless  as  is  alleged.  For  the  untrained  investor  there 
are  always  available  safe,  if  not  highly  remunerative,  op- 
portunities for  deposit  or  investment,  whether  in  chartered 


iV-f*    ' 


i 


i     li; 


Bt 


SOCLVLISM 


or  postal  savings-banks,  or  in  the  bonds  of  thi-  more  stable 
governments  or  industrial  onttrprises.  In  ttif  niort-  i,.e- 
carious  undertakings,  so  far  as  the  risk  is  due  to  fraud- 
ulent promotion  or  siKxulufive  management,  it  is  as  much 
the  duty  of  the  state  to  provide  safeguard  and  punishm<  nt 
as  in  the  case  of  highway  robbery.  It  is  a  duty  which  every 
state  has  recognized  and  endeavored  to  fulfill,  though  with 
varying  degrees  of  success:  governments  being  no  more  uni- 
form in  virtue  and  eflBciency  than  individuals,  there  ia  in- 
evitably a  wide  range  between  the  company  laws  of  graft- 
ing American  states  which  for  value  received  are  ready  to 
grant  letters  of  marque  to  all  comers,  and  the  laws  of  the 
more  self-respecting  commonwealths  or  of  Britain  or  Ger- 
many. So  far  as  the  risk  is  due  to  the  uncertainty  of  busi- 
ness enterprise,  it  is  a  risk  which  the  investor  must  assume 
unaided;  it  is  precisely  this  readiness  of  the  private  capital- 
ist to  venture  his  wealth  in  untried  ways  which  is  the  main- 
spring of  industrial  progress  and  the  chief  justification  of 
private  property.  The  losses  are  insurance  premiunw 
against  socialism. 

The  workingman,  it  is  further  charged,  suffers  even  more 
seriously  than  the  consumer  and  the  investor  under  a  com- 
petitive system  based  on  private  property  in  the  instru- 
ments of  production.  We  arc  given  a  harrowing  picture 
of  the  present-day  wage-slave  cowering  under  the  lash  of 
the  tyrannical  capitalist,  forced  to  accept  long  hours,  low 
wages,  and  unsanitary  working  and  housing  surroundings, 
and  condemned  to  lifelong  monotony  of  toil.  The  picture 
suffers  from  that  lark  of  [)erspective  and  proportion  which 
results  from  the  habitual  socialist  preoccupation  with  the 
failures  rather  than  the  successes  of  modern  industrialism. 
It  ignores  the  forces  actively  at  work  in  our  existing  society 
to  repress  abuse  of  power  on  the  part  of  the  capitalist  and 
to  secure  to  the  workingman  his  full  share  of  the  fruits  of 
progress.  The  strength  of  the  working  class  is  threefold,  in 
the  employer's  realization  of  the  trusteeship  his  power  im- 


THE  INDICrMENT  CONSIDERED 


S5 


poses,  ir  the  intervention  of  the  state  to  ste  that  the  game 
is  fairly  ()layed,  and  in  the  self-help  of  trade-uuiun  organ- 
ization. 

In  tin-  first  place  no  one  .vho  surveys  the  situation  calmly 
would  agree  with  the  currc-t  stKialist  contention  that  every 
employer  of  lalK)r  grinds  the  f:>ces  of  the  i)oor,  oblivious  of 
the  claims  of  his  fellow  men  to  lair  treatment.  A  striking 
feature  of  contemiMjrary  social  development  is  the  growth 
of  industrial  betterment  activities,  .  Aether  taking  the 
form  of  model  villages,  attractive  factory  surroundings, 
recreational  and  e<lucational  facilities,  or  profit  sharing. 
The  social  secretary  restores  the  intimate  personal  touch 
lost  with  the  expansion  o'  the  workshop  into  the  factory 
and  the  transformation  of  individual  into  joint-stock  own- 
ership. Hard-headed  business  men  make  once  more  the 
old  discov  ery  that  decency  pays  even  in  dollars  and  cents. 
It  is  true  that  these  welfare  activities  cannot,  even  if  uni- 
versally adopted,  of  themselves  provide  a  solution  of  the 
relations  between  capital  and  labor  satisfactory  to  our 
democratic  age;  they  may  even  make  matters  worse,  if 
inspired  by  fussy  paternalism  and  the  condescending  char- 
ity of  Lady  Bountifuls,  or  if  designed  to  take  the  place  of 
wage  concessions  due  or  to  break  up  labor  organizations. 
Prompted,  however,  by  a  sympathetic  recognition  of  the 
human  needs  and  potentialities  of  the  men  and  women  em- 
ployed, buttressed  by  experience  of  their  financial  expedi- 
ency, and  democratized  by  entrusting  their  operation  as 
far  as  possible  to  the  employees  themselves,  they  hold  high 
promise  of  social  service. 

Of  more  widespread  importance  is  the  intervention  of 
the  state.  In  country  after  country,  as  industrial  develop- 
ment proceeds  and  experience  of  the  evils  that  come  with 
its  gains  compels  action,  codes  of  factory  legislation  have 
been  formed  which  are  virtually  workirgmen's  charters. 
A  national  minimum  of  sanitation  and  of  light  and  space 
is  prescribed,  the  labor  of  children  of  tender  years  prohib- 


i- 


I 


54 


SOCIALISM 


ited,  the  hours  of  work  of  older  children,  women,  and  in 
many  instances,  men,  regulated,  safeguards  against  ac- 
cidents and  occupational  disease  demanded,  the  time  and 
manner  of  payment  of  wages  strictly  stipulated.  The  stand 
is  firmly  taken  that  competition  must  not  be  carried  on  at 
the  expense  of  the  worker's  health  and  vitality. 

Yet  neither  the  good-will  of  the  better  type  of  employers 
nor  the  intervention  of  the  state  does  more  than  supplement 
the  workingman's  own  eflForts.   Collective  self-help  is  the 
most  indispensable  weapon  in  his  arsenal.  Under  the  exist- 
ing industrial  order  it  has  become  ever  surer  and  more  ef- 
ficient. The  typical  modem  workingman,  labeled  "  wage- 
slave  "  in  the  heated  rhetoric  of  socialist  denunciation,  is 
well  equii)i)ed  for  the  struggle  to  secure  the  largest  possible 
share  of  the  national  dividend.   Education  has  widened 
his  horizon,  the  training  and  companionship  of  the  factory 
or  railroad  have  sharpened  his  jxirceptions,  improved  work- 
ing and  housing  conditions  have  increased  his  stamina. 
Union  with  his  fellow  workers  in  local,  national,  and  even 
international  organizations  has  given  to  each  man's  labor 
something  of  the  indispensableness  of  labor  as  a  whole,  has 
pooled  scanty  individual  resources  to  provide  reserves  for 
strike  or  unemployment,  and  has  placed  at  the  service  of  all 
the  bargaining  ability  and  shrewder  tactics  of  the  few  who 
forge  to  the  front  as  leaders.  Collective  bargaining  steadily 
makes  its  way;  trade  agreements  between  the  representa- 
tives of  organized  capital  and  organized  labor  witness  the 
coming  of  "the  constitutional  factor>',"the  gradual  demo- 
cratization of  industry  by  giving  the  workers  a  direct  share 
in  settling  the  conditions  of  their  labor.  Not  even  grafting 
or  dishonoring  of  contracts  by  occasional  labor  leaders,  nor 
the  militant  anti-unionism  of  belated  reactionaries  of  the 
Parry  and  Kirby  tj-pe,  nor  the  eighteenth-century  mter- 
prctations  of  freedom   of  contract  still  lurking  in  some 
judicial  quarters,  can  permanently  hinder  or  obscure  the 
movement. 


jmm 


THE  INDICTMENT  CONSIDERED 


6S 


The  rapid  development  of  insurance  to  cover  the  princi- 
pal contingencies  to  which  the  workman  is  exposed  further 
arms  him  for  his  life-struggle.  The  isolated  individual,  de- 
prived  of  the  support  of  the  old  kinship  groups  or  ecclesias- 
tical organizations  which  would  once  have  given  succor  in 
time  of  crisis,  is  liable  to  be  crushed  by  sudden  misfortune. 
Accident  or  prolonged  sickness  may  incapacitate  him  for 
further  work,  unemployment  may  result  from  a  general 
trade  crisis  or  shift  in  fashion,  his  death  may  leave  his  fam- 
ily unprepared  to  grapple  with  the  world.  Fortunately, 
through  the  cooperative  device  of  insurance,  it  has  been 
found  possible  to  redress  the  flukes  of  fate  and  to  ease  the 
burden  by  distributing  it  over  a  wide  group. 

It  is  not  the  place  here  to  discuss  at  any  length  the 
merits  of  voluntary  and  compulsory  insurance,  or  the  ques- 
tion whether  the  cost  should  be  borne  by  the  workingman, 
by  the  employer,  by  the  state,  or  jointly.  It  is  coming  to 
lie  agreed  that  disablement  by  accident  or  by  occupational 
disease  is  a  trade  risk,  and  that  the  burden  should  be 
thrown  pi  imarily  on  the  employer  or  employer-group,  to  be 
recouped,  as  all  other  permanent  and  universal  costs  are 
recouped,  in  increased  prices.  For  the  contingency  of  un- 
employment it  is  generally  recognized  that  the  trade  or- 
ganization, wherever  it  exists,  is  best  able  tc  judge  of  the 
genuineness  of  the  workless  man's  plight,  though  it  may  be 
necessary  for  the  local  or  national  government  to  supple- 
ment the  resources  at  its  disposal.  Where  a  system  of 
public  employment  bureaus  or  labor  exchanges  enables 
the  state  to  make  the  same  test  of  the  genuineness  of  un- 
employment, it  becomes  possible  to  establish  a  system  of 
compulsory  insurance,  maintained  mainly  by  the  em- 
ployers and  the  workmen  affected.  Sickness,  old  age,  and 
death  the  workingman  shares  with  the  rest  of  mankind 
and  accordingly  there  is  less  need  for  special  consideration. 
There  is  indeed  a  tondrncy  in  some  few  countries  which 
have  established  non-contributory  old-age  pensions  to  re- 


^^.mm 


K^^v. 


'^.m^^^m^i^^^M^ 


56 


SOCIALISM 


I' 


lease  the  individual  from  all  responsibility  so  far  as  provid- 
ing for  one  at  least  of  these  contingencies  is  concerned,  a 
tendency  which  may  find  regrettable  justification  in  the 
concrete  difliculties  presented  by  the  presence  of  millions  of 
workers  who  have  lacked  the  ability  or  the  wish  to  save. 
Sounder,  as  taking  the  road  of  prevention  rather  than  palli- 
ative, and  keeping  more  in  mind  the  interest  of  posterity,  is 
the  counter-tendency  to  help  the  individual  to  help  himself, 
to  insure  that  eveiy  man  shall  be  able  to  earn  and  able  to 
get  a  living  and  a  saving  wage,  and  then  to  leave  him  the 
burden  and  the  moral  opportunity  of  thrift,  rather  than  to 
eke  out  starving  wages  by  pauper  doles.  So  far  as  the  funds 
for  state  pensions  come  from  the  taxation  of  the  working 
classes  themselves,  their  gain  is  illusory,  or  at  least  no 
greater  than  the  gain  from  compulsory  individual  saving; 
so  far  as  the  funds  come  from  the  employers  and  the  gen- 
eral consuming  public,  better  first  than  last,  as  just  wages, 
not  as  pitying  charity.   The  direct  action  of  the  govern- 
ment, where  the  more  individualistic  solution  is  adopted, 
is  confined  to  supervising,  and  if  need  be  supplementing, 
the  joint-stock,  nmtual,  and  trade-union  insurance  and 
benefit  organizations,  the   savings-banks    and   building- 
societies,  and  the  many  other  instruments  of  thrift. 

Such  are  the  main  agencies  actually  at  work  to  enable 
the  workingman  to  obtain  and  to  hold  his  share  of  the 
wealth  which  the  progress  of  science  and  the  opening- up  of 
new  lands  are  producing  in  ever  greater  abundance.  In 
face  of  the  growing  enlightenment  of  the  employers,  t^^e 
state's  insistence  on  refereeing  the  game,  the  trade  union's 
unending  pressure,  the  joint  insurance  against  the  crises  of 
the  individual's  life,  the  socialist  contention  that  the  work- 
ers of  to-day  are  but  wage-slaves  is  seen  to  be  the  emptiest 
rhetoric.  The  employer  and  the  workingman,  each  equally 
dependent  in  the  long  run  on  the  other's  cooperation, 
meet  face  to  face  as  equal  bargainers,  now  the  one,  now  the 
other  reaping  advantage  in  the  bargaining  as  the  conditions 


I  ?!«fswfn»j.  ••9^:viiige>a«i«Ptm 


'w^w.'wm^xi^mm. 


THE  INDICTMENT  CONSIDERED 


67 


of  Industrial  activity  vary.  It  is  true  that  large-scale  pro- 
duction makes  uniformity  of  rules  and  regulations  inevit- 
able: it  is,  in  fact,  the  impossibility  of  each  workman  indi- 
vidually dickering  as  to  the  hours  of  beginning  or  ceasing 
work  or  the  number  of  cubic  feet  of  air-space  allowed  — 
an  impossibility  which  would  remain  even  in  Mr.  Keir 
Hardie's  socialistic  factory  —  that  uflFords  the  justification 
of  collective  bargaining.  To  confuse  individual  conformity 
to  rule  with  slavery,  however,  is  utterly  to  misconceive  the 
relation  between  law  and  liberty. 

Nor  do  the  further  specific  counts  in  this  section  of  the 
socialist  indictment  possess  any  greater  validity  than  the 
charge  that  the  factory  system  spells  slaveiy.  It  is  undeni- 
able that  under  the  influence  of  the  various  agencies  noted, 
long  hours  and  unsanitary  and  dangerous  working  surround- 
ings are  rapidly  becoming  isolated  exceptions.  As  for  the 
monotony  and  the  narrowing  effect  of  machine  labor,  it 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  if  for  the  former  artisan  the 
machine  sometimes  means  a  cramping  and  paralyzing  of 
skill,  for  the  unskilled  laborer  it  opens  up  fields  hitherto 
unattainable.  Even  for  the  artisan,  it  is  a  tenable  position 
that  within  the  factory  the  companionship  and  social  inter- 
ests develoi>ed  quite  offset  the  loss  in  versatility  and  all- 
round  activity  involved  in  the  passinrt  of  the  autonomous 
but  solitary  handicraft,  while  the  greater  leisure  afforded  by 
the  steady  shortening  of  hours  gives  opportunity  for  the 
cultivation  of  outside  interests.  Again,  the  difficulty  ex- 
perienced by  handicraftsmen,  on  the  first  extensive  intro- 
duction of  machinery,  in  adapting  themselves  to  the  new 
conditions,  was  a  real  and  serious  one,  entailing  untold 
misery.  To-day,  however,  new  inventions  rarely  produce 
such  serious  effects,  since  the  similarity  of  the  machinery 
used  in  many  allied  fields  of  industry,  together  with  the 
growth  of  technical  education,  makes  it  possible  for  work- 
ingraen  to  change  from  one  line  to  another,  the  more  easily 
because  not  isolated,  as  the  handicraftsmen  often  were,  iq 


r 


m 


m. 


1^ 


^\^ 


p^i-'   €"f, 


08 


SOCIALISM 


the  country  districts.  The  adjustment  of  supply  and  de- 
mand is  effected  not  so  much  by  actual  displacement  as 
by  turning  the  new  recruits  into  the  growing  industries 
and  away  from  the  decaying  ones.  Nor  does  the  employ- 
ment of  women  and  youths  necessarily  involve  the  ousting, 
certainly  not  the  diminished  employment,  of  male  adult 
labor.  There  is  no  greater  proportion  of  women  and  child- 
ren employed  to-day  than  in  our  great-grandfathers'  day; 
they  have  merely  shifted  the  scene  of  their  activities  as 
one  occupation  after  another,  spinning,  weaving,  clothes- 
making,  baking,  butter-making,  jam-making,  has  been 
sheared  away  from  the  primitive  all-comprehensive  func- 
tions of  the  home  and  converted  into  a  specialized  factory 
industry.  And  on  the  new  scene  the  curtain  is  raised:  the 
evils  of  overwork  which  passed  unheeded  in  the  domestic 
circle  are  recognized  and  corrected  in  the  blaze  of  pub- 
licity the  modem  factory  must  face. 

Turning  from  the  problems  of  wage-earning  to  the  pro- 
blems of  wage-spending,  we  are  faced  with  serious  presenta- 
tions of  the  poverty  of  the  mass  of  the  people.  There  is 
necessity  here  for  discrimination.  The  poverty  which  is 
merely  lesser  wealth  is  not  greatly  to  be  deplored.  In- 
equality in  wealth  is  not  in  itself  an  evil.  Great  forti'nes 
may  be  open  to  attack  on  exactly  the  same  ground  as  small 
fortunes,  wherever,  that  is,  they  have  been  heaped  up  by 
fraud,  by  the  financial  magnate's  manipulation  of  the  cor- 
porate properties  under  his  control  or  by  the  small  trades- 
man's use  of  his  thirty-five- inch  yardstick.  Inequalities 
in  wealth  which  correspond  to  differences  in  enterprise,  in 
industry,  in  thrift,  ran  be  leveled  only  at  the  cost  of  para- 
lyzing production,  and  plunging  the  whole  of  society  into 
an  equality  of  misery.  It  is  otherwise  with  the  poverty 
that  means  positive  degradation,  the  poverty  in  whose 
train  follow  overcrowding  and  disease,  starvation  of  body 
and  soul.  Of  such  poverty  there  is  only  too  much,  especially 
in  older  lands.   But,  as  has  been  pointed  out  above,  the 


mM 


THE  INDICTMENT  CONSIDERED 


59 


pictures  of  poverty  presented  err  grievously  in  perspective, 
an  error  which  may  be  excused  when  the  object  is  to  rouse 
the  careless  to  attention,  but  inexcusable  when  a  calm  esti- 
mate of  the  good  and  evil  of  the  existing  industrial  system 
as  a  whole  is  being  sought.  The  possibilities  of  decent  liv- 
ing are  increasingly  brought  within  the  reach  of  the  vast 
majority.  The  stimulus  of  private  enterprise  has  so  per- 
fected production  as  to  lower  prices  of  goods  and  services 
in  nearly  every  line,  and  to  bring  within  the  reach  of  the 
many  of  to-day  what  were  the  luxuries  of  the  few  of  yester- 
day.   Private  benevolence  and  public  intervention  have 
provided  for  all  comers  the  school,  the  library,  and  the 
museum,  the  park,  the  playground,  and  the  bathing-beach. 
If,  with  these  facilities  for  meeting  the  most  necessary 
wants,  ends  do  not  always  meet,  the  responsibility  is  not 
wholly  to  be  thrown  on  the  insufficiency  of  wage-resources. 
Equally  at  fault,  though  unaccountably  neglected  by  the 
socialist  critic,  is  the  misdirection  of  expenditure,  the  pur- 
chase of  a  gramophone  when  the  larder  is  bare,  and  the 
shiftless  waste  which  prevents  whatever  expenditure  is 
decided  on  from  giving  its  full  service.  Saner  standards  of 
consumption  are  as  vital  and  necessary  as  more  equitable 
standards  of  distribution.   The  lessening  by  half  of  the 
British  drink-bill,  or  the  injection  into  the  average  Ameri- 
can household  of  the  French  qualities  of  ingenious  thrift 
might  work  more  improvement  in  the  general  welfare  than 
the  most  pretentious  scheme  of  industrial  reorganization. 
Nor  should  attention  be  confined  solely  to  the  material 
goods  whose  unequal  sharing  has  been  the  burden  of  social- 
ist complaint.    The  over-emphasis  which  socialism  has 
placed  on  the  material  outcome  of  the  competitive  struggle 
is  radically  unsound.  It  is  not  merely  dollars,  many  or  few, 
that  a  man  wins  in  life's  battle.  The  struggle  calls  for  and 
develops  qualities  of  character  of  immensely  greater  signi- 
ficance.  It  is  not  implied  that  financial  success  is  an  un- 
failing index  of  moral  strength;  few  Pittsburg  millionaires 


60 


SOCIALISM 


I 


m 


fc  r 


H 


t  i; 

h   I 


have  been  canonized.  Yet  by  and  large  it  is  true  that  the 
industrial  organization  which  makes  each  tub  stand  on  its 
own  bottom  has  by  its  disciplinary  and  selective  action  de- 
veloped the  homely  virtues  of  industry  and  thrift,  the  qual- 
ities of  insight  and  initiative  which  compel  success.  There 
is  no  monopoly  in  these  goods  of  character.  One  man's 
more  does  not  mean  another's  less. 

It  is  also  true  that  life's  choicest  gifts,  love  and  honor 
and  consecration  to  others'  service,  the  glory  of  the  sunset 
and  the  peace  of  the  midnight  stars,  are  goods  not  bought 
with  a  price,  and  goods  as  close  within  the  reach  of  the  cot- 
tage as  of  the  mansion.  Not  that  material  goods  may  be 
dispensed  with :  it  is  necessary  to  live  before  it  is  possible 
to  live  well,  and  to  oflfer  to  a  man  who  asks  for  bread, 
free  access  to  a  gallery  of  old  masters,  is  empty  mockery. 
Starvation  is  as  fatal  to  aspiration  as  surfeit.  But  once 
this  minimum  is  secured,  it  rests  with  the  individual  to  de- 
termine whether  he  will  live  for  his  neighbors'  eyes  or  by 
his  own,  whether  he  will  devote  his  means  to  competitive 
display  and  conspicuous  waste,  or  will  seek  to  develop  his 
own  personality.  By  all  means  let  us  strive  to  insure  for 
every  man  and  woman  the  possibility  of  making  an  ade- 
quate living,  but  do  not  let  us  forget,  as  the  socialist,  like 
the  multi-millionaire,  is  prone  to  forget,  that  making  a 
living  is  not  living. 

A  final  source  of  error  in  the  socialist  arraignment  is  the 
disregard  of  the  outstanding  facts  in  the  relation  of  men  to 
their  tools.  Neither  the  weaknesses  nor  the  strength  of 
human  nature  will  ever  permit  this  earth  to  harbor  a  flaw- 
less social  order.  The  weaknesses  of  human  nature  will  not 
permit  it;  however  cunningly  devised  the  institutions,  the 
Old  Adam  will  break  through  and  wreak  havoc.  The  Uto- 
pian fallacy  dies  hard,  that  hidden  in  some  undiscovered 
Atlantis  or  shrouded  in  the  mists  of  the  future  there  may 
be  found  an  ideal  social  organization  which  man,  naturally 
perfect,  will  be  abl«  to  work  without  creak  or  friction.  It 


.■^■i' 


???^W?'^ 


-  «v.-'^-;t;. 


i=S^,i 


^=jr  X  ^j;k:«^^ 


THE  INDICTMENT  CONSIDERED 


81 


is  true  of  course  that  human  nature  is  not  an  unvarying 
quantity,  and  that  the  reflex  action  of  institutions  on  men 
is  as  important  as  the  action  of  men  on  institutions.  The 
current  stress  on  the  responsibility  of  society  for  individual 
ills  marks  a  wholesome  reaction  from  the  atomistic  attitude 
which  threw  on  the  pauper  or  the  criminal  the  whole  re- 
sponsibility for  his  shortcoming.  Yet,  as  is  the  way  with 
reactions,  it  has  already  gone  to  an  extreme,  and  at  present 
we  are  in  danger  of  losing  sight  of  the  responsibility  of  the 
mdividual  by  shouldering  all  the  blame  on  tlmt  intangible 
and  ungrieving  entity  Society,  absolving  A  by  holding 
B  and  C  at  fault  and  B  by  A's  and  C's  neglect. 

Nor  will  the  strength  of  human  nature,  the  ceaseless 
striving  for  betterment,  any  more  than  its  weaknesses,  ever 
permit  this  faultily  faultless  perfection.  In  the  future  as 
in  the  past  progress  must  be  rooted  in  divine  discontent. 
The  goal  ever  fades  into  the  distance;  every  step  upward 
opens  new  horizons;  achievement  always  lags  behind  con- 
ception. If  ever  the  voice  of  the  critic  is  hushed,  it  will 
mean  that  society  has  attained  not  perfection  but  stagna- 
tion. That  finality  is  impossible  is  no  reason  for  folding 
the  hands  and  acquiescing  in  the  present  ills,  but  it  is  a 
reason  for  disregarding  the  factious  criticism  which  would 
have  us  scrapheap  civilization  because  with  all  our  progress 
there  yet  remain  many  a  blot  to  be  removed  and  many 
a  manful  fight  to  be  waged. 


.-.vft 


Ml 


m. 


ABL 


CHAPTER  IV 


UTOPIAN    SOCIAUSM 


I.     THE    UTOPIAN    ANALY8I8 

Modern  socialists,  we  have  seen,  are  most  at  one  in  charg- 
ing that  the  times  are  out  of  joint.  As  to  how  this  evil  situa- 
tion arose  and  how  it  is  to  be  set  right,  their  variances 
are  manifold,  and  a  complete  presentation  would  involve 
a  study  of  a  score  of  separate  systems.  The  exceptionally 
important  differences  in  theory  and  tactics  between  Marx 
and  his  immediate  forerunners  have,  however,  dwarfed  the 
differences  among  the  latter,  and  made  it  possible  to  classify 
them  all  in  tne  group  —  the  Utopians.  The  cleavage  be- 
tween Utopian  and  scientific  or  Marxian  socialism  is  prob- 
ably not  so  deep  as  has  been  contended  by  some  exponents 
of  Marxism,  convinced  that  the  date  of  the  master's  advent 
marks  the  year  One  of  the  Hegira  from  Capitalism;  much 
that  has  usually  been  ascribed  to  Marx  is  found  in  germ,  at 
least,  among  his  predecessors.  Yet  the  distinction  is  a  con- 
venient one  and  broadly  justified,  and  accordingly  it  will  be 
adopted  as  the  basis  of  the  ensuing  discussion. 

Utopian  socialism  is  the  connecting  link  between  the 
bourgeois  radicalism  of  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
and  the  proletarian  revolutionarism  of  the  nineteenth. 
Just  as  at  its  close  it  takes  on  a  Marxian  tinge,  at  its 
beginning  it  shades  off  into  the  iconoclasra  of  the  French 
Enlightenment.  The  majority  of  the  Utopian  writers  from 
Mably  and  Morelly  to  Fourier  and  Owen  share  the  precon- 
ceptions which  underlay  the  thinking  of  the  political  and 
religious  radicals  of  their  day. 


UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM 


88 


Foundational  was  their  belief  that  God,  or  Nature,  had 
ordained  all  things  to  serve  the  happiness  of  mankind. 
Adam  Smith's  faith  in  the  "  .  visible  hand,"  or  the  Physio- 
cratic  assumption  of  "the  settled  course  of  material  facts 
tending  beneficently  to  the  highest  welfare  of  the  human 
race,"  '  is  paralleled  by  Morelly's  belief  that  Nature  had 
aimed  at  the  promotion  of  general  happiness,*  and  by  the 
declaration  of  Fourier  half  a  century  later  that  "God  has 
done  well  all  that  he  has  done;  .  .  .  His  providence  would 
be  imperfect  if  he  had  devised  a  social  system  which 
should  not  satisfy  the  needs  and  secure  the  ha])piness  of 
every  people,  age,  and  sex."'  From  this  belief  there  were 
deduced  as  corollaries  the  conceptions  of  codes  and  laws 
of  Nature,  somewhere  hidden,  and  of  natural  rights  which 
were  every  man's  due  by  birth. 

Yet  everj'where  misery  and  oppression  and  error  reigned. 
Clearly  the  beneficent  design  of  Nature  had  not  yet  been 
carried  out.  The  explanation  was  that  in  the  past,  through 
ignorance  or  through  knavery,  men  had  created  cus- 
toms or  institutions  which  prevented  the  natural  tendency 
to  progress  and  happiness  from  operating  to  its  full  ex- 
tent. In  the  political  sphere  they  had  set  up  kings  and 
nobles  to  be  oppressors  of  their  fellows,  at  best  useless  bar- 
nacles on  the  ship  of  state;  in  religion,  priest-made  supersti- 
tions bled  men's  purses  and  cramped  their  minds;  in  indus- 
try, gild  monopoly  and  tariff  privilege  and  the  state's  close 
check,  grandmotherly  at  best,  stepmotherly  at  worst,  fet- 
tered and  thwarted  production  and  exchange.  At  the  bar 
of  individual  reason,  tested  by  the  touchstone  of  Nature's 
law,  these  institutions  one  and  all  stood  condemned.  Dide- 
rot summed  the  indictment  in  a  comprehensive  challenge: 
"Examine  all  political,  civil,  and  religious  institutions  with 
care;  unless  I  am  greatly  in  error  you  will  discover  that  for 

'  Vcblen,  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  xiii,  p.  \i7. 

•  Code  de  la  Nature,  p.  i6. 

•  Le  Nouteau  Monde,  p.  31;  Manuserih,  p.  149,  in  Gide,  op.  eit.,  p.  48. 


f^m 


m':.:^^^'. 


t^'SIl'' 


j^£^ 


I  ■ 


64 


SOCIALISM 


centuries  the  human  race  has  bowed  under  a  yoke  imposed 
upon  it  by  a  set  of  rogues,"  •  a  passage  which  can  be  equaled 
in  its  dogmatism  and  its  lack  of  the  historic  sense  o'^ly  by 
Cabet's  declaration:  "And  yet  how  could  the  social  organ- 
ization escape  being  vicious,  since  it  was  the  work,  not  of 
a  single  man  and  a  single  assembly  creating  a  complete  and 
coordinated  plan,  but  of  time,  of  successive  generations 
adding  piece  by  piece;  not  of  reflection  and  discussion,  but 
of  chance  or  experiment;  not  of  wisdom  or  experience,  but 
of  ignorance  and  barbarism;  not  of  virtue  and  the  desire  to 
promote  the  happiness  of  the  People,  but  of  vice,  violence, 
conquest,  and  the  lust  of  oppression."*  The  conception  of 
the  continuity  of  history,  the  recognition  of  the  useful  func- 
tions which  the  institutions  denounced  had  once  performed 
in  the  world's  economy,  were  foreign  to  the  majority  of  the 
thinkers  of  thij  age. 

The  evils  which  arose  in  ignorance  or  knavery  are  per- 
petuated by  the  influence  of  circumstances  and  training. 
The  l)elief  in  the  all-powerful  effect  of  environment  which 
pervades  the  thinking  of  the  whole  school  becomes  an 
obsession  with  Robert  Owen,  forming  the  most  important 
part  of  his  theoretical  stock-in-trade.  "Any  general  char- 
acter," he  declares,  "from  the  best  to  the  worst,  from  the 
most  ignorant  to  the  most  enlightened,  may  be  given  to 
any  community,  even  to  the  world  at  large,  by  the  applica- 
tion of  proper  means;  which  means  are  to  a  great  extent 
at  the  command  and  under  the  <x)ntrol  of  thase  who  have 
influence  in  the  affairs  of  men.  .  .  .  Their  predecessors 
might  have  given  them  the  habits  of  ferocious  cannibalism, 
or  the  highest   known   benevolence  and   intelligence."* 

*  SuppUment  au  Voyage  de  Bougainmlle,  (Euvres,  ii. 

*  Voyage  en  Icarie,  p.  308.  Cf.  Owen:  "...  the  irrational  principles 
by  which  the  world  has  lieen  hitherto  governed  [Sew  View  of  Society, 
p.  25];  .  .  .  the  invention  of  religion,  private  property,  and  marriage 
...  all  founded  in  opposition  to  Nature's  law"  [New  Moral  WoHd, 
i,  pp.  129.  75). 

*  New  Vieu)  of  Society,  pp.  19,  91. 


?»  'X-.U, .. jyi 


UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM 


95 


These  "necessarian  circumstantialist " '  views  were  of  great 
inii)ortance  not  merely  for  the  tlu>oreticaI  analysis  but  for 
the  projects  of  reform  whic  h  Ow»n  afterwards  deduced. 

The  socialist  and  the  indiviflualist  leaders  of  this  time, 
it  has  been  maintained,  shared  largely  the  same  general 
preconceptions.  The  parting  of  the  ways  came  with  the 
specific  deductions  from  these  general  assumptions.  Both 
Iwlieved  n  an  organization  of  society  where  Njiture's  forces 
should  have  free  play;  both  fought  against  the  customs  and 
institutions  in  the  existing  order  which  prevented  this  free 
play.  But  to  Adam  Smith  or  Quesnay  the  ideal  economic 
organization  was  production  on  a  basis  of  private  property 
j'^d  individual  competition,  with  the  minimum  of  state 
supervision; '  the  evils,  the  survivals  of  gild  and  mercantil- 
ist privilege  which  hampered  the  full  development  of  this 
system.  To  Fourier  or  Owen  or  Cabet,  the  ideal  was  the 
socialization  of  property,  in  varj'ing  degrees;  the  evil  to  be 
combated,  that  very  "obvious  and  simple  system  of  nat- 
ural lil)erty"(>ii  which  their  predecessors  had  set  their  liofK'S. 

'  C.l.  tlip  many-labeled  characterization  of  Owen  by  A<iin  Ballou 
(Noyes,  History  oj  American  Socialiamt,  p.  88) :  "  In  years  nearly  seventy- 
five;  in  knowledge  and  experience  superabundant:  in  l)fnevolence  of 
heart  transcendental;  in  honesty  without  disKui><-:  in  philanthropy  un- 
limited; in  religion  a  sceptic;  in  theology  a  Pantheist;  in  metaphysics  a 
necessarian  drcumstantialist;  in  moraba  universal  excusionist;  in  general 
conduct  a  philosophic  non-resistant;  in  socialism  a  communist;  in  hope  a 
terrestrial  elysianist;  in  practical  business  a  metbodist;  in  deportment  an 
unequivocal  gentleman." 

'  "All  systems  either  of  pwference  or  of  restraint,  therefore,  being  thus 
completely  taken  away,  the  obvious  and  simple  system  of  natural  lilM-rty 
establishes  itself  of  its  own  aooord.  Every  man,  as  long  as  he  does  not 
violate  the  laws  of  justice,  is  left  perfectly  free  to  pursue  his  own  interest 
his  own  way,  and  to  bring  both  his  industry  and  capital  into  competition 
with  those  of  any  other  men,  or  order  of  men.  The  sovereign  is  completely 
discharged  from  a  duty,  in  the  atterii[)ting  to  perform  which  he  must  al- 
ways be  expo^>^>l  to  innumerable  delusions,  .ind  for  t  ,o  proper  performance 
of  which  no  human  wistiom  or  knowledge  (x>uld  ever  Ik-  sufficient:  the 
duty  of  superintending  the  industry  of  privaf'  ()eop!e  nnil  of  directing  it 
towards  the  employments  most  suitable  to  the  interest  of  the  society." 
—  Wealth  of  Nation*,  Bohn  edition,  ii.  p.  iffl. 


m 


H'-l^^i^tf, 


^. 


I'i 


m 


M  SOCIALISM 

Contradictory  as  these  propwHions  were,  they  were 
equally  natural,  if  not  equally  defensible,  deductions  from 
the  common  principles,  applied  to  different  industrial 
conditions.  Adam  Smith  wiote  in  thedoys  of  handicraft; 
Robert  Owen  saw  the  light  in  his  experience  of  the  work- 
ings of  large-scale  capitalist  production.  The  socialist  agreed 
wi»h  his  individualist  brother  that  the  interests  of  society 
anu  of  the  individual  would  prove  identical,  given  the 
proper  conditior  •  and  environment;  he  differed  in  bracket- 
ing private  property  with  feudal  privilege  and  tariff  exac- 
tion as  items  in  the  conditions  which  musv  be  held  unfav- 
orable, and  buttressed  his  claim  by  jwinting  to  the  anarchy 
and  waste  which  pervaded  the  societies  don  mated  by  indi- 
vidual competition.  He  upheld  the  natural  right  of  every 
man  to  the  full  produce  of  his  lalxir,  bit  nuiintained  that 
this  right  was  as  much  infringed  by  capitalist  appi-ojjria- 
tion  as  by  feudal  exaction,  and  that  freedom  of  competition 
meant  merely  the  freedom  of  the  strong  to  exploit  the 
weak. 

The  analysis  here  indicated  was  not  carried  out  in  very 
extended  or  systematic  fashion  by  the  Utopia.i  writers. 
They  preferred  anathematizing  the  existing  order  to  ex- 
plaining it,  ar  ]  building  the  castles  of  the  future  to  explor- 
ing the  foundations  of  the  past.  It  is  possible,  howevei,  to 
present  a  general  outline  of  the  two  systems,  the  Fourier- 
ist  and  the  Saint-Simonist,  which  offer  the  mast  compne 
hensive  analyses  of  modem  industry. 

Fourier  and  his  school,  in  their  explanation  of  the  short- 
comings of  capitalism,  laid  stress  chiefly  on  its  inefficiency 
in  production  and  exchange.  The  chief  cause  of  the  misery 
which  prevailed  was  that  not  enough  wealth  was  produced, 
or  was  produced  only  to  be  wasted  in  the  process  of  distri- 
bution. For  this  failure  in  production  they  accounted,  in 
the  first  place,  by  the  fact  that  the  bulk  of  society's  dispos- 
able forces  are  not  employed  at  all  or  are  employed  only  in 
useless  or  destructive  labor.  Standing  armies  diverted  hun- 


UTOPIAN  80CIAUSM 


•7 


dreds  of  thousands  of  the  sturdiest  youths  from  industry 
in  time  of  peac-e  and  carrie<l  devastation  broadcast  in  time 
of  war;  the  idle  rich  made  no  pretense  at  production; 
legions  of  tramps,  sharpers,  prostitutes,  thieves,  were  in 
oi)en  rebellion  against  stxioty,  as  unproductive  as  the  mag- 
istrates and  jMnicc  set  up  io  protect  private  projKTly 
against  their  depredations;  lawyers  and  philosophical 
sophists  and  crank  were  busied  in  sterile  debate;  armies  of 
customs  officials       '•■  's,  and  tax-gatherers  were  absorbed  in 

reveniie  from  private  individuals. 

•  T  .    .      ^on  the  real  workers  made 


collecting  th  • 
All  in  all  the 
up  two  thi'  !    «>f  i.> 
Nor  w''«  . '  !  I'  ,iM 
try  mo'-ti.      hi    ^  i 

to  fit  C.    Ill'  u         >    .   ' 
disCOV    :     'li     v.    '      '- 

themselv"  -  f<       ■ 
ratherthanii't-;i>  tpi 
were  never  cai* 
than  utilized.* 


I"  t 
■iiv 


engaged  in  useful  indus- 
.  There  was  no  attempt 
*  unity  given  the  young  to 
r  ta'ent  lay  a.id  to  train 
'if  ....  M'ork  was  made  reiK-Hent 
'.  ■■>,  ..  he  Ix'st  efforts  of  the  workers 
'.,.:•,  I  lit-  J  li  ssions  were  repressed  rather 
lii  ...  ulc  of  pro«hiction  was  usually  tc^o 
small  to  permit  economical  iitilizatioi  of  the  working 
force.*  There  was  no  coiifjeration  between  the  different 
establishments  in  the  same  industry,  no  rational  unified 
control  of  production  to  adjust  supply  to  demand.*  The 
family,  which  was  the  existing  economic  and  educational 
unit,  had  neither  the  breadth  of  view,  the  disinterested- 
ness, nor  the  pv.rni..  lence  necessary  for  its  task. 

In  yet  v  ■  bird  direction  Fourier  sought  the  explanation 
of  society's  poverty  —  in  the  exploitation  of  both  the  pro- 
ducer and  the  consumer  by  the  tniddl:  uan.  It  is  especially 
on  Commerce  that  Fourier  pours  oi     all  the  vials  >f  his 

'  Fourier,  Umlf  Unirt^neUe.  iii.  173-176;  iuGide,  op.  eti..  89-94;  Con- 
«i(l^rant,  DettinSe  Sociak,  i,  56-61. 
'  ConsifK^rant,  op.  eit.,  p.  100. 

•  Units  Universelle,  iii  p.  148  seq. 

*  Consid^rant.  op.  cil.,  p.  63. 


II 


:Wg-T:-v-'g^ 


at!KF.  Jg. 


iii^ 


•lk*Y^^'> 


88 


SOCIALISM 


wrath :  vampire,  hydra,  corsair,  serpent,  spider,  are  among 
the  milder  epithets  applied.  ^  The  middleman,  who  should 
be  the  servant  of  the  producer  and  consumer,  has  become 
their  master,  buying  cheap  and  seK '  ng  dear,  levying  tribute 
on  the  necessities  of  both.  Hordes  of  superfluous  merchants 
infest  every  branch  of  commerce,  increasing  the  cost  of  all 
commodities  by  their  insensate  competition,  economizing 
only  by  adulteration  and  trickery.* 

Less  stressed  is  the  doctrine  of  the  exploitation  of  the 
workers  by  the  employers.  Wage-labor,  Fourier  declares, 
is  indirect  servitude.  There  are  but  three  methods  of  in- 
ducing men  to  work :  the  slavemaster's  whip  of  the  past, 
the  attractiveness  of  work  in  the  phalanstery  of  the  future, 
and  in  the  present  the  compulsion  of  misery  and  famine.* 
There  ia  no  solidarity  of  interests  between  master  and 
man:  the  wage-workers  form  a  floating  population  whose 
interests  are  antagonistic  to  those  of  the  possessors  of 
wealth  and  the  instruments  of  production.  The  mechan- 
ism of  their  exploitation  is  not  developed  at  length ;  passing 
references  are  made  to  the  dei)ression  of  wages  by  the  in- 
crease of  population,  and  the  introduction  of  machinery.* 

Little  attempt  is  made  to  forecast  the  future  by  an  in- 
vestigation of  the  forces  at  work  in  existing  society.  The 
most  notable  contribution  in  this  direction,  that  of  Fourier, 
is  as  interesting  in  its  contrasts  to  the  later  Marxian  doc- 
trine as  in  its  likenesses.  It  differs  shairply  in  being  pre- 
sented not  as  an  inevitable  development  but  as  the  alterna- 
tive to  the  adoption  of  his  own  short-cut  propo.«als;  it  is 
strikingly  simikir  in  being  deduced  as  much  from  an  abso- 
lute theory  of  historical  progress  as  from  a  study  of  con- 
crete fact.  The  theory,  as  developed  at  length  by  Fourier 

>  Unite  UnitcTteUe.  ii.  217;  Considfranl.  87,  93. 

•  Noureau  Monde  Industriel,  chaps.  43,  44;  ThSorie  de$  Quatre  Moute- 
menu,  2<1  fflition,  p.  373. 

»  rnilS  I'liirerselle.  iv,  126;  ConudiraDt.  op.  eit.,  p.  10* 

•  Consid^rant,  op.  eit.,  p.  69. 


UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM 


69 


and  his  closest  disciple,  Consid^rant,  is  simply  the  oft-recur- 
ring conception  that  the  life  of  humanity  is  parallel  to  the 
life  of  the  individual,  passing  through  the  stages  of  infancy, 
youth,  maturity,  and  old  age.'  In  each  of  these  stages  the 
same  rise  and  fall  are  observable.  At  present  we  are  in  the 
first  stage,  and  in  the  fifth  of  the  eight  i)eriods  into  which 
it  is  divided  —  primitive  £dcnism,  savagery,  patriarchism, 
barbarism,  civilization,  guaranteeism,  sociantism,  and  har- 
monism.  This  period,  Civilization,  is  itself  marked  by  the 
same  rhythmic  development:  we  are  now  on  the  down 
grade,  the  descending  vibration,  and  consequently  may  ex- 
pect to  see  developments  analogous  to  those  in  the  a.scend- 
ing  period.'  If  present  tendencies  continue  we  shall  see  the 
establishment  of  a  new  feudalism,  financial  rather  than 
military,  following  on  the  gradual  concentration  of  wealth 
in  the  hands  of  a  few  and  the  increase  of  misery  and  help- 
lessness on  the  part  of  the  many.*  The  new  barons  would 

*  "Everything  that  exisU,  vejfotablp.  auirnul,  man.  worlil.  and  nebula, 
is  subject  to  one  general  law  of  life  nd  death."  — C'onaid^rant,  op  rit  i 
p.  136. 

'  "The  second  part  of  the  period,  the  ascending  vibration,  should  be 
inversely  analogous  to  the  first,  jii.st  as  the  two  later  periods  in  man's  life 
present  phenomena  inversely  analogtus  tti  those  of  the  first  two.  I  say 
anali  ;;ous  and  not  identii-al,  for  dawn  and  twilight,  infancy  and  s«-nil- 
ity,  tiic  beginning  and  the  end  of  ail  devel<i,-<;  ent,  an>  anahigous  but 
not  exactly  idcntic-ul.  In  accordance  with  thi.s  principle,  detluced  from 
the  general  th«!ory  of  dovelopment  eMt'tl>li.Hh(-<l  aUive.  we  may  expect 
to  see  civilization,  which  lias  begun  by  feuddism.  end  in  feudalism."  — 
Ibid.,  181)-90. 

'  "Masters  of  the  field  ot  IkiHIc.  the  great  manufacfurtrs,  merchant.s, 
proprietors,  who  had  inarched  at  the  hea<i  <if  the  popular  movement 
against  thefeudal  nobihty,  constitute  .  .  .  a  new  power.  .  .  .  Tliepcwer 
of  great]  fortunes,  multiplied  by  joint-i.tock  concentration,  by  large-scale 
production,  the  employment  of  machinery,  and  the  operations  of  great 
trading-houses,  crushes  a  host  of  middle  and  small-simi  prtKlucers  and 
traders.  ...  In  our  stage  of  civilization  the  proleUriat  and  pauperism 
increase  with  the  population,  and  fa.ster  still,  as  a  dirwt  rwult  of  the  pro- 
gresM  of  industry.  .  .  .  All  progress  in  the  sy.sU-m  of  n\-ilization  is  for  the 
worse;  prosperity  brings  an  extension  of  the  .«MMi»i  cuurr,  and  our  indus- 
Iria!  organization  is  a  hug«-  machine  which  makes  poor  and  proietariuu." 
—  Ibid.,  pp.  19»-93,  M&-54. 


70 


SOCIALISM 


organize  both  manufacturing  and  Rgricu!ture  in  systematic 
fashion,  putting  an  end  to  the  r.narchy  that  reigns  to-day, 
and  assuring  subsistence  to  their  dependents.'  Then  the 
state  would  step  in,  and  the  stage  of  guaranteeism  would 
be  in  full  swing,  developiiijr  step  by  step  into  sociantism 
and  eventually  into  harmonism,  Fourier's  perfect  ideal. 
But,  as  noted  above,  this  is  only  the  worse  alternative  : 
thaiiks  to  Fourier's  discovery  of  the  associative  system,  it 
is  possible  to  skip  all  the  intervening  stages  and  advance 
forthwith  into  harmonism.* 

The  analysis  made  by  Fourier  may  serve  as  typical  in 
essentials  of  the  Utopian  attitude.  Saint-Simonism  needs 
.separate  consideration  because  forming  in  many  important 
asiH?cts  an  intermediate  step  between  Utopianism  pure  and 
undefiled  and  the  scientific  socialism  of  Marx  and  his  fol- 
lowers. More  clearly  than  any  of  the  contemporary'  social- 
istic schools  it  shows  the  jiossibility  of  evolution  from  an 
orthodox  liberalism  to  socialism.  Saint-Simon  himself 
ne\er  reached  a  position  which  can  be  jiroperly  termed 
soc'ialistic.  For  the  greater  part  of  his  stormy  and  '•estless 
lifp  he  fought  as  a  soldier  in  the  warfare  against  feudal  and 
ec«  iosiastical  privilege,  championing  the  claim  of  the  cap- 
tain of  industry  and  the  scientist  to  the  primacy  justly  for- 
feited by  the  noble  and  the  priest.  In  this  exalting  of  indus- 
t  rialism  his  position  was  very  much  that  of  his  more  famous 
disciple,  Aiigusto  Comte.  In  his  further  development  he 
may  l)e  said  to  l)e  akin  to  Carlyle,  in  the  stress  laid  on  the 

'  Cf.  Cihj'nf,  Rrnrrolrnl  Fruiialium,  19. 

-  <'f.  n  .similar  forcca.st  in  IV<-qu("iir,  Des  Intcritg  du  commerce,  de  /'tn- 
dii-ttrie  li  de  Ingririilliire  f  IHHK). 

[Fnmi  f;(iarnntf<-isinj  ">M«irty  will  mnrcti  nipiilly  toward  theorRaniza- 
tii>n  of  tli»'  a.s.'KK'iativp  n'Rimc  whirh  we  arc  hImhiI  to  doscnlx',  and  which 
wr  can  attain  at  on<v,  without  pa.s.sing  through  the  .stages  which  separate 
us.  .  .   ."'  ('on.siderant,  p.  il7. 

"  Wf  lia  ve  soon  the  course  that  industry  would  follow  in  the  event  of  real 

pn)pr<-ss  anil  anterior  to  the  discovery  of  the  passionate  .series \s 

we  arc  jroinR  to  skip  the  sixth  and  seventh  p<'rifHls,  ami  raise  ourselves  im- 
mediately til  the  eighth.   .   .   ."  Fourier,  Soureau  Monde,  pp.  515-530. 


UTOPL\N  SOCUUSM  71 

necessity  of  central  organization  and  eicpert  direction  to 
make  the  most  of  the  industrial  forces  and  the  industrial 
op[K)rt unities  of  the  new  era,  in  the  aristocratic  hope  of 
salvation  from  above,  from  heroes  or  scientific  hierarchy, 
in  the  object  set  forth  of  "improving  as  rapidly  as  possible 
the  lot  of  the  poorest  and  most  numerous  class,"  and  in  the 
conception  of  an  industrialism  jHirmeated  by  moral  and 
religious  ideals. 

The  school  of  Saint-Simon  gave  the  master's  doctrines 
a  definitely  socialistic  extension.  In  their  analysis  of  the 
existing  order  they  advanced  beyond  his  criticism  of  feudal 
exactions,  and  found  the  source  of  stxial  ills  in  the  persist- 
ence of  private  property,  last  and  worst  of  the  outworn 
privileges  inherited  from  the  {)ast.  The  right  of  private 
property  is  simply  the  right  to  receive  an  income  that  has 
not  been  earned,  the  right  to  levy  toll  on  the  industry  of 
others.  The  capitalist  and  the  landed  i)roprietor  are  the 
depositaries  of  the  instruments  of  labor;  it  is  their  function 
to  allot  them  to  the  real  workers  through  the  processes 
which  give  rise  to  rent  and  interest.  They  take  advantage 
of  their  monopoly  to  force  the  workers  to  yield  to  them 
a  share  of  the  toil.  The  entrepreneur  suffers  from  ihis 
exploitation  in  like  manner,  though  not  in  like  degree, 
with  the  workman  of  the  rank  and  file.  For  the  latter  the 
capitalist's  oppression  is  little  improvement  over  slavery. 
"If  the  exploitation  of  man  by  man  no  longer  bears  the 
brutal  aspect  which  characterized  it  in  antiquity  ...  it 
is  non^^  the  less  real.  The  workniaii  is  not  like  the  slave, 
the  direct  property  of  his  master;  the  terms  on  which  he 
works  arc  fixed  by  contract;  but  is  this  transaction  a  free 
one  on  the  part  of  the  workman?  It  is  not,  since  he  is 
obliged  to  accept  on  pain  of  death,  reduced  as  he  is  to  look 
for  each  day's  foo<l  to  the  pay  of  the  day  before."  ' 

'  Ei-pontinn  nV  li  dnririnr  .laitil-itimnnirnnr,  6mo  s6an<v.  Pccqueur  a 
ffw  years  Inter  echoes  tlie  sjime  eomplaint  (Thforic  nnvtrlk  d'fconomie 
tociaU),  while  in  England  Bray  and  Thompson,  followers  fo  some  extent 


n 


SOCLVLISM 


Nor  does  the  evil  end  here.  Under  a  regime  of  private 
property,  production  is  as  badly  organized  as  distribution 
is  unjustly  effected.  For,  as  matters  go,  the  allotment  of 
control  of  the  instruments  of  production  depends  on  the 
hazard  of  birth.  There  is  no  guarantee  that  the  men  most 
fitted  to  direct  industry  will  be  given  the  opportunity;  the 
partial  and  blind  working  of  the  custom  of  inheritance 
makes  impossible  any  scientific  adaptation  of  capacity  to 
task.  "No  broad  general  views  determine  production :  it  is 
carried  on  without  insight  or  foresight;  here  it  brings  glut, 
there  it  brings  dearth.  It  is  to  this  luck  of  a  general  view 
of  the  needs  of  consumption  and  of  the  resources  of  pro- 
duction that  we  must  ascrilx;  industriiU  crises.  If  in  this 
imjjortant  branch  of  social  activity  we  see  manifested  so 
much  disturbance  and  disorder,  it  is  liecause  the  allotment 
of  the  instruments  of  lulwr  is  made  by  isolated  individuals, 
ignorant  at  once  of  the  needs  of  industry  and  of  the  men 
and  the  means  capable  of  meeting  those  needs;  here  and 
nowhere  else  is  the  root  of  the  evil."  ' 

Saint-Simonism  marks  a  notable  advance  over  the  aver- 
age Utopian  view  in  its  firm  grasp  of  the  continuity  of  his- 
tory. The  future,  it  is  maintained,  is  constituted  by  the 
last  terms  of  a  series  of  which  the  first  terms  make  up 
the  past,  and  from  these  earlier  terms  the  later  may  be  de- 
duced.* Each  period  holds  in  itself  the  germ  of  its  successor. 
Progress  comes  by  the  alternation  of  critical  and  construct- 
ive periods,  the  critical  characterized  by  anarchy  and  un- 
restrained egotism,  the  constructive  by  obedience  and  or- 
der and  unity  of  thought  and  action.  We  are  now  living  in 
a  critical  age,  but  are  to  Ik;  led  by  Saint-Simonism  into  the 
ultimate  constructive  era;  the  spirit  of  association,  which 

of  Owen,  attempt  to  work  out  a  doctrine  of  exploitation  bttSKtl  on  the 
Sicanlian  theory  of  value,  tlieir  work,  however,  fuilinR  to  prinhHv  any 
more  tlin-et  effeet  than  to  help  ^usKesf  to  Karl  Marx  his  theory  of  surplus 
value.  Cf   Men^iT.s  lliijlil  to  tin-  H'holi  Product  of  Labour. 

«  Eipomtion,  ete.,  pp.  191-W. 

«  (Eucret  de  Saint-Simon  et  (TEnfantin,  i.  p.  12*. 


>?..>^>"!^^-.! 


UTOPIAN  SOCIALLSM 


7S 


in  the  past  has  j^^adually  won  ((round  from  the  spirit  of 
antagonism,  spreading  from  the  family  to  the  city  ?ind  the 
city  to  the  nation,  will  become  world-widf  in  scope  and 
give  the  keynote  to  the  dawning  era  'he  aim  of  the  future 
will  l)e  the  exploitation  of  the  glolje  by  man  associated 
with  man.  This  transformation  is  inevitable,  but  inevit- 
able only  because  the  triumph  of  Saint-Simonist  doctrine 
is  inevitable;  like  ail  social  transformations  it  is  dependent 
on  a  philosophical  development:  "Every  social  regiiite  is  an 
application  of  a  system,  and  consequently  it  is  impo«sif»le 
to  institute  a  new  regime  without  having  previously  es- 
tablished the  new  philosophical  system  to  which  it  shouW 
correspond." ' 

The  most  striking  feature  of  the  I'topians'  |M)sition  is  the 
prevailing  lack  of  understanding  of  the  way  in  which 
8(x-ial  institutions  arc  r(K)tc<l  dtTi)  in  the  life  and  character 
of  a  people.  This  failure  to  grasp  the  essential  relativity  of 
political  or  industrial  systems  to  the  whole  environment 
leads,  in  their  judgments  of  the  past,  to  hasty  and  unmeas- 
ured condemnation  of  customs  and  institutions,  if  not  in 
all  thmgs  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  present,  as  the  inven- 
tions of  fools  or  rogues.  It  leads,  in  their  criticism  of  the 
present,  to  projKJsals  for  the  sudden  and  sweeping  abolition 
of  the  industrial  system  which  the  men  of  the  western 
world  have  slowly  and  painfully  wrought  out  to  meet  their 
needs  and  fit  their  powers.  It  leads,  in  their  planning  for 
the  future,  to  suggestions  for  the  erection  of  new  stKiul 
structures,  built  to  scale  from  carefully  worked-out  plans, 
wherein  every  detail  of  front,  rear,  iiiul  side  elevation  has 
been  provided  l)eforehand.  There  is  little  conception  of 
social  growth  and  development:  once  Nature's  ideal  sys- 
tem is  discovered  it  may  be  stereotyi^d  without  limit.  No- 
thing can  show  more  completely  the  difference  Iwtween 
the  preconceptions  —  or  the  prejudices  —  of  their  time  and 
of  our  post-Darwinian  day  tlian  the  sentence  quoted  from 
'  lEutret,  xix,  p.  iW. 


74 


SOCIALISM 


i   i 


Cabet:  "  And  yet  how  could  the  social  organization  escape 
being  vicious,  since  it  was  the  work,  not  of  a  single  man 
and  a  single  assembly  creating  a  complete  and  co<>rdinate 
plan,  but  of  time,  of  successive  generations  adding  piece 
by  piece."  •  To  the  Utopian  this  was  valid  and  serious 
criticism;  to  the  men  of  the  twentieth  century  it  is  sheer 
irony. 

The  analysis  presented  by  Owen  and  Fourier  is  curiously 
dualistic.  On  one  side  they  set  up  a  perfect  human  nature, 
passions  preordained  to  harmony;  on  the  other,  Satanic 
social  institutions,  on  which  rest  the  sole  blame  for  the  fall 
of  man.  Human  nature  is  idealized  out  of  recognition:  the 
extent  to  which  the  social  environment  is  but  its  reflex  is 
overlooked.  So  far  as  the  details  of  the  analysis  are  con- 
cerned, there  is  nnu-h  truth  in  the  charges  of  waste  and 
misdirection  laitl  at  the  door  of  comi)etition,  but,  as  was 
suggested  al)ove,  the  complaints  against  the  middleman, 
which  form  the  gravamen  of  Fourier's  indict  rnrnt,  are  seri- 
ously exaggerated  for  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  time  und 
place  utilities  commerce  confers. 

The  .school  of  Saint-Simon  does  not  share  this  lack  of 
historic  sense.  Much  of  what  is  !x".st  in  the  Posilivists*  con- 
ception of  the  progress  man  has  made  through  the  ages 
and  their  appreciation  of  the  provisional  service  rentlorcd 
by  the  in.stitutionsof  the  past  may  be  traced  through  Comte 
to  Saint-Simon.  Whether  the  development  was  ascrilwd 
to  the  proper  forces  is  another  matter:  Saint-Simon  ovor- 
empha-sized  the  |)ower  of  ideas  as  niinh  as  Marx  under- 
valued it.  The  exploitation  theory  of  the  Saint-Sinionist 
school  is  based  on  as  flimsy  foundations  as  the  doctrine  of 
the  more  strictly  I'topian  sects.  The  claim  that  the  [>os- 
session  of  capital  and  of  land  enal)les  their  owners  to  take 
toll  of  the  workers'  prcMluct,  to  deprive  them  of  part  of 
the  fruit  of  their  labor,  overlooks  the  elementary  fact  that 
this  product  is  not  solely  the  "workers'  product,"  but  is 

'  Supra,  p.  .14. 


UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM 


75 


due  to  the  cooperation  of  the  land  and  capital  borrowed 
as  well  as  to  the  labor  applied.    To  insist  that  the  allot- 
ment  of  any  share  whatever  of  the  product  to  those  who 
have  provided  the  instruments  essential  to  its  making 
constitutes  exploitation,  is  indefensible.   It  may  be  that  in 
specific  cases  the  methods  by  which  the  capitalist  and  the 
landed  proprietor  acquired    their  properties    have  been 
questionable;  that  is  a  uiatter  entirely  aside  from  the  ques- 
tion of  the  propriety  of  return  to  capital  in  general.  It  may 
be  that  the  owners  of  the  instruments  of  labor  have  used 
their  power  to  extort  an  unjustly  large  share  of  the  joint 
product,  but  this  again  is  a  matter  for  specific  and  indi- 
vidual discussion,  and,  in  the  absence  of  the  possibility  of 
determining  the  exact  contribution  each  factor  has  made 
to  the  product,  the  interpretation  of  justice  and  injustice 
must  turn  on  considerations  which  the  Saint-Simonist  doc- 
trine does  not  raise.  The  criticism  of  the  allotment  of  cap- 
ital by  the  accident  of  birth  and   inheritance  has  more 
plausibility.  Aside,  however,  from  the  (lualifications  to  he 
made  in  view  of  the  extent  to  which  the  use  of  credit  in 
modern  business  and  the  prevalence  of  j<)int-sto<k  com- 
I)anies  insure  cajjacity  securing  control  of  capital,  it  should 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  institution  of  inheritance  finds 
its  s(K'ial  justification  not  merely  in  its  effect  on  the  distri- 
liiilion  of  capital  but  in  the  incentive  it  provides  to  the 
formation  of  that  capital  in  the  first  place. 

The  root  of  the  error  in  Saint-Simonist  analysis  is 
that  it  begins  with  the  fund  of  capital  goods  already 
formed,  instead  of  investigating  the  way  in  wliich  the 
stimulus  of  private  pm{)erty  and  family  solidarity  has 
insured  its  steady  accumulation.  Nor  is  it  enough  to 
show  that  the  present  methoils  are  humanly  imj)erfect; 
it  is  necessary  to  show  that  l»etter  may  Ik?  devised. 
And  tliis,  to  his  credit,  the  I'topian  is  always  reaily 
to  attempt:  there  is  no  lack  of  ideal  commonwealths 
proposed. 


7« 


SOCULISM 


II.     TIIK    UTOPIAN    IDEAL 

From  the  spectacle  of  disorder  and  misery  which  the  pre- 
sent order  exhibited,  the  Utopian  socialisit  turned  with 
pleasure  to  the  contemplation  of  the  ideal  commonwealth 
that  was  to  be,  "certain  of  the  possibility  of  realizing  a  so- 
cial organization  which  would  universalize  wealth,  happi- 
ness, and  harmony,  unify  mankind  and  elevate  them  to  the 
highest  degree  of  power,  beauty,  splendor,  and  glory  .  .  . 
calm  the  suffering  of  the  peoples,  deliver  the  unfortunate 
from  the  anguish  of  hunger  and  misery  and  the  fortunate 
from  their  egotism,  and  bring  about  a  marriage  upon  earth 
between  work  and  pleasure,  l)etween  riches  and  kindly  feel- 
ing, between  virtue  and  happiness."  '  Across  the  Channel  a 
brother  enthusiast  was  announcing  in  modest  circus-|K>ster 
style  that  "a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  are  aljout  to  Ik; 
opened  to  the  astonished  and  wondering  world."  *  No  two 
of  these  visions  of  the  future  Eden  agreed  in  detail.  They 
may,  however,  be  grouped  into  three  main  classes.  The  first 
group  of  ideal  societies  adopts  the  independent  community 
as  the  unit  of  organization,  and  is  characterized  by  the 
utmost  scope  for  individual  liberty;  the  other  grou|)s,  one 
coilectivisl,  the  other  communist,  make  the  state  the  unit 
of  organization,  and  exalt  authority  al)ove  freedom. 

In  the  first  group  doubtless  the  palm  for  completeness  of 
detail  and  marvelous  minor  ingenuities  must  Iw  conci'ded 
to  that  half-mad  genius,  Charles  Fourier.  His  ideal  s(Ki('ty 
is  pictured  with  a  gusto  and  a  childlike  faith  which  disarm 
criticism  and  with  a  coherence  of  detail  that  almost  wins 
credence.  The  unit  of  organization  is  the  j)halanx,  a  com- 
munity of  1500  to  1600  [)ersons,  devoted  in  slijiht  degree  to 
manufacturing,'  but  chiefly  to  agriculture,  or  rather  horli- 

*  f'onsidenint,  op.  Ht.,  ii,  p.  xxxii. 

'  Owen,  Snr  Moral  World,  i,  p.  10, 

•  "(;<m1  (listril)ut<Ml  only  such  an  ullownnci-  of  sttruction  to  the  work  of 
manufiu'tiirin^  as  corrcsponils  to  a  ((iiartcr  of  tlii'  time  tlmt  tli<'ass<Miat- 
ive  man  can  divote  to  labor.  "  —  Nouvcau  Momlc,  p.  I,>1,  in  (Jiile,  p.  118. 


n 


UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM 


77 


culture  and  arboriculture.  The  commuaity  u  housed  in  a 
great  central  building,  the  phalanstery,  containing  the 
workshops  and  the  livin^'-apailmcnts,  wherein  the  econ- 
omies of  consumption  in  common  give  comforts  and  lux- 
uries unknown  in  the  scattered  I  ouseholds  of  the  present. 
The  conimunilies  are  as  far  as  jmssihle  self-contained,  but 
exchange  directly  with  one  another  their  peculiar  pro- 
ducts. 

It  is  in  his  method  of  organizing  and  stimulating  pro- 
duction that  Fourier  is  mast  original  and  most  naive.  The 
force  which  should  rule  society,  he  has  discovered,  is  the 
same  forc'e  which  holds  the  planets  in  order  —  attraction,' 
the  free  play  of  jiossion.  For  centuries  moralists  have  con- 
demned men's  passions,  whereas  what  they  sliould  have 
condemned  was  the  artificial  social  envirt>nment  which 
alone  made  those  [Missions  work  for  evil.  Change  that  en- 
vironment, put  man  in  the  phalanx  for  which  God  designed 
him,  and  the  passions  will  Ik*  harncsseil  to  society's  service. 
Does  the  unregenerate  man  to-day  find  work  repulsive? 
That  is  because  the  work  is  prolonged  to  monotony;  the 
papillonne  or  butterfly  passion  makes  him  crave  variety. 
In  the  phalanx  he  will  engage  by  turn  in  six  or  eight  occupa- 

"  "rhBnoi'  rountx  for  half  in  the  surcriu  of  a  man  of  fp>nius.  ...  I 
niyswlf  paid  tribute  to  it  when  I  iliiMtivpHHi  the  rnlrulus  of  attrac-tion. 
An  apple  was  for  me,  as  for  a  Newton,  a  giiidinK  eompaas.  For  this  apple, 
whi«h  in  worthy  of  fame,  a  traveler  who  dineti  with  me  at  K^vrier'.t  res- 
taurant in  Paris  paid  the  sum  of  fourteen  sous.  I  had  just  eomo  fn)m  a 
di.Hfriot  where  the  same  kin<l  of  apples,  and  even  superior  ones,  sold  for  a 
half-liard,  that  is  to  say,  more  than  a  hundred  for  fourteen  .>tous.  I  was  so 
■truck  by  thw  difference  of  price  Ijetween  places  having;  the  .same  temjK-r- 
Bture,  that  I  l)ef;an  to  su.sjiect  that  there  must  Ik-  something  radically 
wrong  in  the  industrial  mechanism,  and  hence  ori^innted  the  researches, 
whi<h,  after  four  years,  causeil  me  to  discover  the  theory  of  m-nen  of  indus- 
trial Kr(>up8,  an<l.  con.sequently,  the  hiw  of  univi-rsal  motion  missetl  by 
Newton.  ...  I  have  since  noticcti  that  we  can  reckon  four  apples  as  cele- 
brate*!, two  for  the  disasters  wliicli  lliey  cnus<'<l,  Adam's  apple  and  that 
of  Paris,  and  two  for  the  s«Tvi<vs  they  n-ndenti  to  .-Micmv,  Newton's  iipph" 
and  mine.  Does  not  the  quartette  <if  apples  iles»>rvp  a  page  in  history?" 
—  ManuKtiU,  year  18.11,  p.  17.  in  Gide,  op.  eit.,  p.  17. 


i 
%■ 


R 


'^^- 


I. 

1 1; 

£  f 


n  SOCJ\LISM 

Uons  a  (lay,  and  find  delight  in  all.'  Do  men  intrigue  and 
plot,  and  bow  to  grccn-oycd  jealousy?  Face  the  existence 
of  the  cabalist  passion;  admit  that  (iod  did  not  implant  so 
mighty  a  force  in  nu-n's  breasts  without  intending  it  to  be 
used  for  good:  organize  the  workers  of  the  phalanx,  or 

'  "The  cfaii'f  Mource  of  light-hcartr<inc.'i.H  aroonK  HurmuDiaiui  w  the  fre- 
quent rhange  uf  waitioDii.  .  .  .  Let  im  (itlineule  thin  variatiun  by  a  table 
exhibiting  a  day  uf  two  Ilarmunianii,  one  poor  and  one  rich. 

Lugan'  day  in  the  month  o(  June. 
Uourt. 
At    S34  riainK.  Retting  reatiy. 

4      attendance  at  Ntiilile  group. 

6  attendance  at  a  KKrdvnem'  group. 

7  BRKAKFAMT. 

7V^  attcndantv  at  the  reap<'r!i'  (froiip. 
•H  attciuliinci'  at  the  veg«-iiibl«'->,'n)wew'  group  under  cover. 
1 1      attendance  at  the  .stable  xerit-a. 

1         DINVRR. 

t  attendance  at  the  rural  .series. 

4  attenduntv  ut  a  munufacturing  group. 

8  attendaniv  at  the  watering  iieriea. 
8  attcnilance  at  'Change. 

8'  2  srppKH. 

8     attendance  at  reaorta  of  amusement. 
10      bedtime. 


Hourt. 


Mondor't  day  in  tummer. 

Sleep  from  lOj^^J  in  the  evening  to  3  o  iliK-k  in  the  momiiig. 
At    3}^  ri.sing,  getting  ready. 

4      court  of  public  Icvtv,  newji  of  the  niitht. 

4V3  the  dctilc,  first  meal,  folliiwed  by  the  industrial  parade. 

53^  attendance  ot  the  hunting  group. 

7  attendance  at  the  fi.shing  group. 

8  BREAKPAMT,  ncwspafMTi. 

ft      attendanci-  at  an  agricultural  group  under  cover. 
10      attendance  at  niaii.s. 
lOVi  attendance  at  the  phcasantry  group. 
UJ^  attendance  at  the  library. 

I        DIVNKK. 

tyi  attendance  at  the  group  of  cold  green-houses. 

4  attendance  at  ihe  grtiup  of  I'xoi'ir  plants. 

5  attendance  at  the  group  of  fish-ponds. 

9  luncheon  in  the  fields. 

ayi  attendance  at  the  group  of  merin<x-s. 
8      attendance  at  Thange. 
ft      sfPPEB,  fifth  repa.st. 

flV$  attendance  ut  j-ourt  of  I  he  nrt.s,  Imll,  theatre^  rerrplion.i. 
WA  bedtime." 

—  Sourrnu  Monde,  pp.  07-08;  Gide,  pp.  107-108. 


2& 


^"K. 


^*^-W 


UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM 


7t 


ralhcr  let  them  organize  thcm.telvcs  ob  their  preferences 
dictate,  in  couutles8  licries  and  gruupM,  —  the  series  (*ou- 
sisting  of  men  joined  together  l>y  idciitity  of  passion  for 
some  activity,  such  as  ttie  cultivation  of  a  fruit,  and  the 
groups  of  the  subdivisions  devoted  to  each  variety  of  this 
fruit,  —  and  set  these  series  and  groups  in  rivalry  one  with 
another,  let  them  intrigue  and  cahal  to  heart's  content  in 
their  striving  to  surpass  their  fellows. 

Is  self-interest  the  bane  of  our  present  order?  Accept  it, 
and  so  contrive  a  system  of  distribution  that  it  shall  lie 
harmonissed  with  the  collective  interest.  In  this  plan  of  dis- 
tribution Fourier  is  less  radical  than  many  of  his  suct-essors. 
To  a  certain  extent,  it  is  true,  he  adopts  the  principle  of  dis- 
tribution according  to  need,  a.ssigning  every  member  of  the 
community  a  minimum  of  consumption  g(NMjs,  irresjiective 
of  merit  or  demerit,  relying  on  the  attnu-tivencss  of  pha- 
lanx labor  to  prevent  malingering.  But  in  the  main  he 
favors  a  complicated  system  of  paynient  in  pro|)ortion  to 
services  rendered.  The  share  of  each  series  in  the  comnmnal 
dividend  varies  directly  with  its  imi)ortance  in  fostering 
harmony  and  inversely  with  the  pleiusurability  of  the  work. 
This  share  again  is  divided  into  twelve  parts,  of  which  five 
are  assigned  to  lalK)r  and  four  to  talent  —  the  numlHT  «>f 
points  each  menilxr  in  the  service  should  Ik'  assigned  under 
each  head  lieing  fixinl  by  the  exact  and  watchful  apprecia- 
tion of  his  fellows  —  and  three  arc  assigned  to  capital,  for 
Fourier  permits  lx)th  private  proiK'rty  and  interest,  within 
the  limitations  of  associative  u.se.  Every  ineml)er  of  the 
phalanx  is  to  work  in  several  series,  so  that  it  is  not  to  his 
interest  to  demand  an  unfair  share  for  any  one,  and  receive 
remuneration  under  each  of  the  heads  of  capital,  lal>or,and 
talent,  in  the  different  <K"cui)ations,  so  that  he  has  no  mot- 
ive for  objecting  to  the  proportions  assigned.  Throughout, 
tlif  phaiunx  is  sui)siitutc<l  for  the  family,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  state,  on  the  other,  as  the  unit  of  organization.  To 
the  family,  esiHJcially,  Fourier  assigns  a  very  minor  role;  in 


If 


■'ff^^m  t^ 


flffls 


MICROCOPY   RESOIUTION   TEST   CHART 

(ANSI  ond  ISO  TEST  CHART  No    2) 


1^ 

i^ 

1^ 

1^ 

1^ 

ill  2-2 

1^ 

1^ 

US 
IS 

Im 

11^ 

l± 



125  iu 


1.8 


1.6 


^  APPLIED  IIVMGE    Ir 

S^^  '653   East    Wain    Street 

S^^  Rochester.    New    York         U609        USA 

'—  (^16)    482   -  OJOO  -  Phone 

^S  (^^6)    288  -  5989  -  Fox 


80 


SOCIALISM 


strict  conformity  to  his  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  pas- 
sion and  attraction,  he  develops  a  thoroughgoing  system  of 
free  love;  the  woman  of  the  future,  assured  of  economic 
support,  is  to  be  left  free  to  choose  permanent  marriage, 
temporary  marriage,  or  promiscuous  intercourse. 

Robert  Owen's  busy  life  afforded  little  of  the  solitude  in 
which  Fourier  spun  dreams.  By  contrast  his  proposals  are 
bare  and  crude.  Like  Fourier  he  advocates  as  the  unit  of 
organization  a  community,  varying  from  five  hundred  to 
three  thousand  members,  engaged  in  both  agriculture  and 
manufacturing  and  imited  in  voluntary  federation  with  the 
tens  of  thousands  of  similar  communities  that  are  to  cover 
the  civilized  world  and  make  the  ancient  state  organiza- 
tions superfluous.  In  this  community  there  is  a  division  of 
labor  based  on  age:  from  the  third  year,  when  the  parents 
resign  charge,  to  the  twentieth,  the  younger  generation  are 
receiving  that  formative  education  on  which  Owen's  en- 
vironment theories  led  him  to  lay  such  store,  an  education 
increasingly  industrial  in  character  towards  the  close  of  the 
period;  the  young  men  from  twenty  to  twenty -five  perform 
the  bulk  of  the  productive  work,  those  from  twenty -five  to 
thirty  the  distribution,  while  the  men  of  thirty  to  forty 
manage  the  Interior  administration  and  those  above  forty 
the  external  dealings  of  the  community. '  Private  property 
vanishes  entirely;  the  rule  of  distribution  is  to  be  stark 
equality. 

The  other  socialist  schools,  while  equally  convinced  that 
men  were  predestined  to  perfect  happiness  on  earth,  found 
more  need  for  authority  in  the  mechanism  by  which  that 
happiness  was  to  be  secured.  Doubtless  Nature  had 
planned  an  ideal  commonwealth,  but  not  a  self-propelling, 

■  Outline  of  (he  Rational  System.  Cf.  New  Moral  World,  i,  221,  for  an- 
other arrangement:  domestic  duties  to  the  age  of  twelve,  production  of 
wealth  from  twelve  to  twenty-one,  its  preservation  and  distribution  from 
twenty-one  to  twenty-five,  forming  the  cliaracter  of  the  rising  generation 
from  twenty-five  to  thirty-five,  government  from  thirty-five  to  forty-five, 
and  thereafter  the  search  after  new  knowledge. 


fi 


'm^^^^i'^i-M 


r.-:. 


■■^im 


UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM 


181 


self-adjusting  one.  It  might  be  necessary  to  compel  men  to 
be  free.  Authority  implied  organization  and  organization 
the  centralized  state,  so  the  state  rather  than  the  commime 
provides  the  framework  of  their  New  Jerusalems. 

Saint-Simon,  too  thorough  an  aristocrat  to  doubt  that 
the  organization  of  society  must  come  from  above,  had 
preached  an  aristocracy  of  capacity  to  succeed  the  played- 
out  aristocracy  of  privilege,  scientists  and  captains  of  in- 
dustry replacing  prelates  and  feudal  lords.  The  organiza- 
tion which  his  followers  proposed,  developing  his  ideas,  was 
designed  to  complete  the  work  of  the  Revolution  in  opening 
a  career  to  talent,  to  adjust  capacity,  task,  and  reward  in 
the  most  scientific  manner  possible.  All  artificial  inequal- 
ities must  be  removed,  especially  the  handicap  imposed  by 
the  institution  of  private  inheritance  and  the  consequent 
unfair  start  given  a  few  of  the  competitors  in  life's  race. 
The  state  is  to  be  the  final  owner  of  all  the  means  of  pro- 
duction, the  universal  successor;  the  individual  is  to  enjoy 
only  a  life-interest  in  the  share  assigned  him.  An  elaborate 
hierarchy  will  study  the  capacities  of  all  children,  train 
them  for  the  occupations  for  which  they  seem  best  fitted, 
and  start  them  out  with  the  equipment  necessary  for  the 
chosen  career. 

It  is  grudgingly  conceded  that  this  amateur  provid- 
ence may  occasionally  be  mistaken,  but  on  the  whole  its 
ability,  disinterestedness,  and  elevation  above  the  cramp- 
ing details  of  specific  industries  will  enable  it  to  marshal 
the  state's  working  force  to  the  best  possible  advantage : 
if  a  man  does  not  obtain  the  instrument  of  labor  which 
he  desires,  it  is  because  the  authorities,  competent  men, 
have  recognized  that  he  is  better  able  to  perform  some 
other  function.  To  secure  the  solidarity  and  enthusiasm 
essential  for  smooth  working,  the  centripetal  force  of  relig- 
ion is  to  be  employed,  the  state  to  become  a  church,  with 
a  New  Christianity  preaching  positivism,  the  rehabilitation 
of  llic  Gcsh  and  the  sanctity  of  labor.   The  allotment  of 


82 


SOCIALISM 


^■:# 


i 


J 11 


11^'? 


work  according  to  capacity  is  complemented  by  payment 
according  to  merit. 

There  were  still  inner  citadels  of  privilege  mistormed. 
Robespierre  had  fought  against  the  inheritance  of  the 
privileges  of  rank,  the  Saint-Simonist  fought  against  the 
inheritance  of  the  privileges  of  wealth;  Cabet,  following 
Morelly  and  Babeuf ,  pushed  the  demand  for  equality  further 
and  sought  to  counteract  the  inheritance  of  ability.  ^  The 
state  towers  higher  and  higher  above  the  dead  level  of  citi- 
zen equality:  the  state  through  its  officials,  elected  by  the 
people  at  large  or  by  each  industiy,  or  selected  by  rotation, 
decides  what  and  how  much  shall  be  produced,  trains  thr 
workers  and  assigns  their  duties,  sometimes  permitting  a 
measure  of  choice  tempered  by  competitive  examination. 
The  centralization  of  production  and  the  abolition  of 
money  involve  distribution  of  reward  by  a  system  of  bar- 
rack rationing  and  throw  into  the  hands  of  the  state  the 
power  of  determining  consumption  in  the  most  minute  de- 
tail. Equality  drabs  into  uniformity:  Babeuf  will  have  all 
eat  the  same  amount  of  the  same  kind  of  food;  Cabet  or- 
dains that  all  individuals  in  the  same  station  shall  wear  the 
same  kind  of  clothing,  graciously  permitting  blondes  and 
brunettes,  however,  to  wear  different  shades,  and  ingen- 
iously attempting  to  combine  the  economies  of  large-scale 
ready-made  production  with  comfort  by  arranging  that 
all  suits,  hats  and  shoes  shall  be  made  in  four  or  five  differ- 
ent sizes,  of  elastic  materials,  so  that  they  will  fit  several 
persons  of  different  height  and  size.^  The  same  spirit  is 

'  "And  you  make  no  distinction  for  ability,  intelligence,  genius  ? — 
No;  are  they  not  merely  gifts  of  Nature?  Would  it  be  just  to  punisL  in 
any  way  him  whom  fortune  has  meanly  endowed?  Should  not  reason 
and  society  redress  the  inequality  produced  by  blind  chance?  Is  not  the 
man  whose  superior  ability  makes  him  more  useful  fully  recompensed  by 
the  satisfaction  he  derives  from  H  ?  "  —  Cabet,  np.  cit.',  p.  102. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  59,  Cabet  continues-  "All  the  houses  in  thecitv  have  abso- 
lutely the  same  interior.  .  .  .  theyare,  however,  of  three  different  sizes, 
with  three,  four,  or  five  windows  in  front,  for  families  below  twelve. 


-^tM^-:.:'^^:. 


immm^'  ^^ms^m.  -..gwf" 


i 


UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM 


8S 


manifested  in  the  treatment  of  science  and  letters;  the  state 
is  sole  printer,  and  of  course  "the  state  prints  none  but 
good  bocks";  so  infallible  is  its  censorship  that  it  even 
bums  all  the  ancient  books  which  are  considered  dangerous 
or  useless,  differing,  however,  from  Omar  burning  the 
library  of  Alexandria  in  that  it  was  acting  in  humanity's 
interest  instead  of  against  it:  "we  light  our  fires  to  burn 
wicked  books,  while  the  brigands  and  fanatics  lit  theirs  to 
bum  innocent  heretics."'  No  serpent  must  be  allowed  in 
the  communistic  Eden :  when  mankind  has  found  the  right 
path  again,  it  must  never  be  permitted  to  run  the  risk  of 
straying  back  into  the  wilderness  of  individualism. 


But  it  is  useless  to  follow  further  the  details  of  the  ideal 
commonwealths  devised  by  the  socialists  of  this  early  day. 
Postponing  for  the  present  a  discussion  of  the  points  the 
Utopian  prop>osals  possess  in  common  with  later  socialist 
schemes,  it  may  be  worth  while  at  this  juncture  to  consider 
very  briefly  their  distinctive  features.  Foremost  is  the 
assumption  that  it  is  necessary  and  possible  to  work  out 
beforehand  in  the  most  minute  detail  a  scheme  for  the  com- 
plete ordering  of  our  industrial  affairs.  Undoubtedly  it  is 
legitimate,  in  fact  it  is  imperative,  that  the  propounders  of 
the  new  social  dispensations  should  attempt  to  grapple 
with  the  most  important  problems  their  proposals  involve. 
But  in  this  laudable  endeavor  the  Utopian  goes  to  a  meti- 
culous extreme,  laying  down  rigid  specifications  for  every 
contingency,  omitting  no  least  detail.  Human  nature  is 


twenty-five,  or  forty  persons  respectively.  When  the  family  is  still  more 
numerous,  as  often  happens,  it  occupies  two  contiguous  and  commun- 
icating houses;  and  as  all  the  houses  are  alike  the  neighboring  family 
ordinarily  gives  up  its  house  voluntarily  and  takes  another,  or  the  magis- 
trate compels  it  to  do  so,  unless  the  quiverful  family  can  find  two  other 
houses  vacant.  In  this  case,  the  furniture  being  exactly  the  same,  each 
family  takes  nothing  but  a  few  personal  effects  and  leaves  its  house  all 
furnished  to  take  another  furnished  equally  well." 
'  Ibid.,  p.  127. 


Wiv^^  v!^r  ?i^ 


»-futi 


ifbaiiCH 


84 


SOCIALISM 


abstracted  into  a  dependable  regularity.  No  room  is  left 
for  spontaneous  growth.  The  long-sought  social  order  leaps 
complete  from  the  brain  of  its  deviser. 

The  plans  of  Fourier  and  Owen  agree  in  making  the  small 
autonomous  community  the  unit  of  organization.  What- 
ever partial  justification  the  extension  of  municipal  activ- 
ities has  given  this  emphasis  on  the  commune,  the  passage 
of  time  has  only  brought  into  clearer  relief  the  impossibil- 
ity of  the  plan  in  its  wider  aspects.  The  large-scale  industry 
of  to-day  has  far  outgrown  the  bounds  of  the  phalanstery; 
spontaneous  cooperation  links  men  in  nation-wide  and 
world-wide  interdependence;  at  the  outset  the  new  society 
would  be  compelled  to  forfeit  half  the  advantages  and  econ- 
omies open  to  competitive  industry.  The  difficulties  in- 
volved in  arranging  the  commercial  relations  between  these 
independent  communities  are  not  clearly  realized;  inequal- 
ity and  competition  will  not  be  stamped  out  of  the  world 
merely  by  making  the  community,  instead  of  the  individual 
or  corporation,  the  business  unit.  In  his  provisions  for  the 
organization  of  production  Fourier  makes  many  acute  sug- 
gestions, but  the  fantastic  psychology  on  which  his  main 
proposals  rest  is  a  very  unstable  base  for  any  industrial 
structure,  while  its  ethical  implications  include  the  utmost 
sexual  license  and  the  degradation  of  the  family.  In  the 
free  play  given  to  passion,  the  doctrine  of  laissez-faire  is 
carried  to  its  most  indefensible  extreme.  Fourier,  it  is  true, 
has  put  his  finger  on  a  weak  spot  of  modern  industry  by  his 
indictment  of  the  monotony  of  toil,  but  the  solution  is  to 
be  found,  it  is  being  found,  in  the  better  fitting  of  capacity 
to  task  which  universal  education  makes  possible,  in  the 
improvement  of  the  working  en\nronment,  and  in  the  op- 
portunity shorter  hours  afford  of  utilizing  leisure  at  one's 
will,  rather  than  in  the  organized  dilettanteism,  the  per- 
petual kindergarten  playing  at  work,  the  lack  of  adequate 
training  and  discipline  implied  in  his  phalanx  dream. 

Nor  is  the  plan  of  distribution  any  more  practicable. 


UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM 


85 


in  spite  of  its  dovetailed  ingenuity  and  its  frank  recogni- 
tion of  the  services  of  capital  and  of  expert  ability;  though 
the  proportions  to  be  assigned  to  labor,  to  capital,  and  to 
talent  are  fixed,  the  decision  as  to  what  degree  of  talent  and 
what  diligence  of  lal)or  each  has  shown  is  confided  to  the 
impartial  and  scientific  appraisement  of  his  fellow  workers. 
Fourier  at  least  deserves  credit  for  attempting  to  solve  the 
problem  of  socialist  distribution;  Owen  and  the  majority 
of  the  communists  simply  cut  the  Gordian  knot  by  assign- 
ing equal  shares  to  all.  -  meeting  the  difficulty  of  distri- 
bution by  an  expedient  which  removes  all  stimulus  to 
excellence  and  renders  doubly  serious  the  problem  of  pro- 
duction. .  t  xU     f^  U  * 
The  Saint-Simonists  and  the  communists  of  the  Cabet 
type  show  greater  discernment  in  insisting  that  the  organ- 
ization of  industry  must  be  state-wide.  That  it  should  be 
state-directed  they  do  not  demonstrate  so  successfully.  The 
aim  of  the  former  school,  to  open  all  careers  to  talent,  to 
prevent  any  man  of  promise  from  being  hopelessly  handi- 
capped in  life's  race  by  the  barriers  either  of  economic  or 
of  political  privilege,  is  eminently  sound,  an  aim  which  has 
been  shared  by  all  liberal  schools  of  thought.  Doubt  and 
divergence  come  with  the  means  proposed  for  attaining 
that  end.    The  Saint-Simonist  looks  for  salvation  to  an 
inspired  bureaucracy  gifted  with  miraculous  insight  into 
human  potentiality  and  miraculous  freedom  from  graft 
or  favoritism.  So  heavy  is  the  draft  which  this  proposal 
makesoncredulity  that  the  Saint-Simonistfelt  compelled  to 

devise  a  social  religion  to  make  the  system  work,  inspiring 
the  chiefs  of  the  hierarchy  to  the  height  of  their  great  task 
and  keeping  in  submission  the  lowly  rank  and  file,  the  re- 
jected who  but  for  the  soothing  influence  of  the  new  relig- 
ion might  occasionally  be  led  to  question  the  unerring  wu.s- 
dom  and  impartiality  of  their  rulers.  The  recourse  to  this 
expedient  was  an  unconscious  confession  that,  with  men 
and  women  as  they  actually  are.  success  could  not  be  ex- 


11 


'k:^ 


W 


86 


SOCLVLISM 


i  -J 


pectcd.  No  one  who  understands  the  priceless  worth  of 
freedom  will  subscribe  to  the  plans  of  any  theorists  who 
hastily  and  in  despair  of  the  slow  and  steady  methods  of 
jjractical  reform  projwse  to  sacrifice  liberty  to  win  a  ma- 
chine-like eflSciency.  And  if  for  this  reason  Saint-Simon- 
isra,  with  its  many  redeeming  flashes  of  historic  insight 
and  high  intention,  failed  to  apjwal  to  the  world,  much 
more  deserved  and  decided  has  been  the  rejection  of  the 
Babeuf  or  Cabet  proposals  of  a  drab  and  tyrannous  co.  .- 
munism. 

III.     THE    UTOPIAN    TACTICS 

What  plan  of  campaign  should  the  cntliusiast  adopt  who 
believed  that  the  world  as  it  was  was  hell  and  the  world  as 
it  might  be,  heaven?  How  bridge  the  gulf?  "What  is  to  be 
done  when  one  knows  that  it  would  be  possible  and  easy 
for  men,  if  they  only  listened  a  moment,  to  change  into  cries 
of  joy,  into  songs  of  love  and  thanksgiving,  the  tears  and 
groans  of  the  peoples  who  from  pole  to  pole  are  bowed  be- 
neath the  yoke  of  every  misery,  distracted  by  every  suffer- 
ing? What  is  to  be  done?"* 

It  was  clear  that  there  were  several  paths  which  the  so- 
cialist who  had  made  the  analysis  presented  in  the  preced- 
ing sections  would  not  follow.  He  would  not  fold  his  hands 
in  patience,  waiting  till  the  forces  immanent  in  the  existing 
society  should  work  out  his  ideal  system :  the  conception  of 
development  was  foreign  to  him,  or  presented  itself,  as  to 
Saint-Simon,  as  dependent  on  the  working-out  of  a  new 
intellectual  synthesis,  or,  as  to  Fourier,  only  in  the  light  of 
a  discarded  alternative,  a  long  and  painful  course  rendered 
unnecessary  by  the  short-cut  of  his  discovery.  He  would 
not  seek  his  goal  by  conflict,  by  setting  uj)  class  against 
class,  for  were  not  all  mankind  joint,  if  not  equal,  sufferers 
from  the  existing  evils,  and  jointly  interested  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  new  order?   Even  those  who  laid  stress  on 

*  Consid^rant,  <yp.  cit.,  ii,  p.  xxiii.  The  italics  are  in  ttc  original. 


■•j:-ji^ 


UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM 


87 


the  fact  of  the  exploitation  of  the  poor  by  the  rich  did  not 
think  of  finding  the  remedy  in  combined  effort  by  the  ex- 
ploited class  to  throw  off  the  yoke:  the  Saint-Simonists  who 
saw  class  conflict  everywhere  in  the  past  and  persisting  in 
the  present,  saw  in  it  only  an  evil  to  be  removed,  not,  as 
Marx  was  later  to  contend,  the  instrument  of  betterment. 
So  the  Utopian  rejected  an  appeal  to  arms,  because  us  un- 
necessary as  it  was  inexpedient,  with  all  the  best  cards  in 
the  hands  of  the  government,  —  "the  governmental  organ- 
ization, the  legislative  and  executive  power,  the  treasury, 
the  army,  the  tribunals,  the  police  with  their  thousand 
means  of  dividing  and  corrupting,"'  —  and  rejected  also 
an  appeal  to  the  ballot-box,  the  arraying  of  class  against 
class  on  the  field  of  politics.* 

There  was  one  course  open  and  one  only  —  peaceful  per- 
suasion, untiring  effort  to  carry  the  new  evangel  to  a  wait- 
ing world  and  induce  men  by  the  compelling  power  of 
truth  and  reason  to  accept  it.  Out  of  ignorance  men  had 
gone  astray;  by  enlightenment  they  would  find  the  path  to 
paradise  again.  "  If  only  men  would  listen  for  a  moment ! " 
Set  the  possibilities  of  the  new  order  before  them,  point  the 
contrast  with  the  impossibilities  of  the  old  disorder,  and 
justice  and  self-interest  alike  would  compel  all  men  to 
accept  the  good  tidings.  The  rich  would  be  as  eager  as  the 


f. 


•  Cabet,  op.  cit.,  p.  561. 

'  C(.  Owen,  New  Moral  World,  iii,  286:  "The Socialist  relies  on  reason, 
intelligence,  and  moral  power  as  the  means  for  the  establishment  of  his 
plans;  the  Radical  looks  to  the  concentration  of  the  physical  strength  of 
the  people  as  the  means  of  overawing  the  privileged  classes  and  carrying 
his  views.  The  Socialist  would  first  bestow  on  all  plenty  of  every  requisite 
for  the  physical  wants  of  man  and  a  rational  education,  that  thence  may 
spring  harmony  of  opinion  and  rational  conduct.  The  Radical  would  give 
power  first,  leaving  the  people  to  take  the  chance  of  a  thousand  crude  and 
discordant  nostrums,  by  whirh  they  might  be  long  bewildered  and  slowly 
benefited.  The  Socialist  projects  an  edifice  complete  in  all  its  proportions 
and  calculated  to  satisfy  the  whole  intellectual,  moral,  and  physical  facul- 
ties of  human  nature  before  beginning  to  alter ;  the  Radical  would  pull 
down,  leaving  to  the  direction  of  chance  what  may  follow  nest." 


m^^^s^m^^^maif^feB^m^s^mmi^ms^smm^mmmm^^m^ 


SOCIALISM 


•  *  f 


poor:  "it  will  be  the  essence  of  wisdom  in  the  privilc^^ed 
classes  to  coofjerate  sincerely  and  cordially  with  those  who 
desire  not  to  touch  one  iota  of  the  supi>ose(l  advantuKcs 
which  they  now  possess;  and  whose  first  and  last  wish  is  to 
increase  the  particular  happiness  of  those  classes  as  well 
as  the  general  happiness  of  society :  a  very  little  reflection 
on  the  part  of  the  privileged  will  insure  this  line  of  con- 
duct." ' 

Rarely  has  faith  found  more  zealous  apostles.  Owenite 
and  Saint-Sinionist.the  follower  of  Fourier  and  the  follower 
of  Cabet,  vied  in  the  eagerness  with  which  they  recruited 
disciples  and  founded  new  centres  of  propaganda,  corre- 
sponded, lectured,  edited  journals,  multiplied  pamphlets 
and  popular  expositions.  Their  chief  method  of  propa- 
ganda, however,  was  experiment.  The  readiest  way  to  con- 
vince mankind  of  the  feasibility  of  the  new  proposals  was 
to  put  them  into  execution  on  a  small  scale,  to  set  up 
"duodecimo  editions  of  the  New  Jerusalem,"  as  Marx 
slightingly  put  it  later,  and  by  the  radiant  success  these 
experiments  would  attain  demonstrate  the  possibilities  of 
wider  extension.* 

Naturally  this  method  found  readier  favor  with  those 
whose  ideal  unit  of  ultimate  organization  was  the  small, 
independent  community  than  with  the  advocates  of  state 
control,  but  even  the  Saint -Simonists  dallied  with  experi- 
mental workshops  where  men  were  to  be  employed  ac- 
cording to  their  capacity  and  rewarded  according  to  their 

*  Owen,  New  View  of  Society,  p.  26. 

'  "What  do  we  ask?  Do  we  ask  for  power,  authority,  force?  .  .  .  No, 
we  do  not  ask  that  the  whole  state  should  be  confided  to  our  hands  to 
apply  our  theories  to  it  by  act  of  authority :  we  ask  an  experiment  in  a 
comer  of  the  world,  a  teat  of  the  associative  mechanism,  carried  out  on  a 
fi  w  hundred  hectares  of  land,  by  a  smnll  capital  conquered  to  our  convic- 
tions; we  do  not  wish  to  rule  society  by  compulsion,  we  wish  to  enlighten 
it  by  an  experiment,  to  prove  to  it  by  an  achievement  which  would  com- 
promise no  existing  interest  that  our  social  organization  is  capable  of  satis- 
fying every  social  interest,  every  need,  and  that  without  imposing  any 
yoke  of  compulsion."  —  Considcrant,  op.  cit.,  ii,  p.  xiii. 


mim^- 


UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM 


80 


work,  and  Cabet,  after  a  sensible  protest,*  succumbed  to 
the  prevuiliiiK  enthusiusm. 

Enthusiusiu  and  apostolic  fervor  wore,  however,  ex- 
pended in  vain.  Propaganda  by  exhortation  scored  no  per- 
manent success,  led  to  no  {K-Tsistent,  organized  movement. 
The  brilliant  band  of  Saint-Simonisls,  including  many  men 
destined  afterwards  to  win  fame  in  the  humdrum  bourgeois 
society  they  had  attacked,  dwindled  by  one  secession  after 
another,  due  to  personal  or  doctrinal  disputes,  and  finally 
broke  up  in  a  cloud  of  disgrace  incurred  by  the  vagaries  of 
Enfantin's  gosjjel  of  a  female  Messiah  and  the  rehabilita- 
tion of  the  flesh.  Fcurierism  flashed  into  wide  popularity 
after  the  Saint-Simonist  fiasco,  and  then  disintegrated, 
leaving  no  more  substantial  result  than  a  stimulus  to 
profit-sharing  experiments.  The  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
disciples  whom  Cabet  had  one  time  claimed  found  other 
channels  for  their  discontent  in  the  revolutionary  strug- 
gles of  '48  or  were  disillusioned  by  the  fate  of  the  American 
Icarias.  What  was  soundest  in  Owenism  contributed  a 
notable  share  to  the  factory  legislation,  popular  education, 
and  cooperative  movements :  Owen  himself  wandered  into 
the  wilderness  of  spiritualism  and  attacks  on  marriage. 
The  sects  and  the  schools  vanished;  v^hat  was  left  was 
the  vague  popular  awakening  to  the  fact  that  all  was  not 
well  with  capitalistic  society. 

Propaganda  by  experiment  failed  equally  disastrously. 
There  was  no  lack  of  variety;  in  the  half -century  from  1820 
to  1870  hundreds  of  model  communities  were  established, 
chiefly  in  the  United  States,  the  home  of  freedom  and 
cheap  land.  Owen  and  Cabet  and  Consid^rant  themselves 
headed  colonies;  Fourier  was  deprived  of  this  opportunity 
through  the  failure  of  the  millionaire  for  whom  he  trustingly 
waited  every  day  from  twelve  to  one  for  years  to  present 

'  "No  partial  experiments  in  communism!  Their  success  could  do 
little  good,  and  their  failure,  almost  inevitable,  would  always  do  much 
Larm." — Oy.  cii.,  p.  66*. 


90 


SOCIALISM 


■f^I 


himself,  but  his  American  disciple,  Arthur  nrishnnc,  sowed 
llic  swd  hrodch'iist,  soinetiriics  to  Im'  itsloiiished  ut  the  Fmr- 
vest.  Tlie  emotional,  ahuost  neurotic,  ideaUsni  charwter- 
istic  of  a  large  section  of  the  American  (leoplc,  whicli  found 
vent  at  different  times  in  revivalist  frenzy,  Millerism,  anti- 
Masonic  crusmles,  Rochester  rappings  and  spiritualism, 
provided  ready  audience  for  the  a|)ostles  of  the  phalanx  or 
the  Owenite  community.  Into  these  exix;rimental  colonies 
there  thronged  enthusiasts  of  all  degrees,  high-souled  and 
high-gifted  lovers  of  their  kind,  transcendentolista  of  the 
traditional  type  who  "dived  into  the  infinite,  soared  into 
the  illimitable  and  never  paid  cash,"  down  to  the  more 
commonplace  cranks  whom  Horace  Greeley  characterized 
in  the  days  of  his  disillusionment  from  the  phalanstery 
craze,  as  "the  conceited,  the  crotchety,  the  selfish,  the  head- 
strong, the  pugnacious,  the  unappreciated,  the  played-out, 
the  idle  and  the  good-for-nothing  generally,  who,  finding 
themselves  utterly  out  of  place  and  at  a  discount  in  the 
world  as  it  is,  rashly  concluded  that  they  are  exactly  fitted 
for  the  worI(f  as  it  ought  to  be."  ' 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  record  some  characteristic 
phrases  out  of  the  glowing  prosi)ectusesof  the  new  societies : 
"  the  barricades  of  selfishness  and  isolation  are  overthrown" ; 
"to  us  has  been  given  the  very  word  this  people  need  as 
a  guide  in  its  onward  destiny";  "we  have  been  shown  by 
tb"  Columbus  of  the  new  industrial  world  how  to  solve  the 
problem  of  the  egg";  "destined  to  bless  humanity  v;]*^ 
agQsof  abundance,  harmony,  and  joy";  "...  nurture  thu 
trie  until  its  redeeming  unction  shall  shed  a  kindred  halo 
thr  )ugh  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land";  "a  beautiful 
and  romantic  domain";  "Alphadelphia  phalanx  has  been 
formed  under  the  most  flattering  prospects:  a  constitution 
has  been  adopted  and  signed'  ;  "enclosed  within  walls 
which  beat  bark  the  storms  of  life";  "I  expect  to  see  all  the 
arts  cultivated  and  every  beautiful  and  grand  thing  gen- 
*  Cited  in  Noyes,  Hittory  of  American  Socialianu,  p.  653. 


V 


UTOPIAN  SOCULISM 


91 


/ 


1 


erally  appreciated"  ;  "the  l)eaiitifiil  si)ectarle  of  prosper- 
ous, hurmonif,  happy  phuhinxes  dotting  tJio  broad  prairie-?* 
of  the  West,  spreading  over  its  luxuriant  valleys  and  radi- 
ating light  to  the  whole  land  that  is  now  in  darkness  and 
the  shadow  o'  death";  "three  attomeys-at-law  .  .  .  are 
learning  honest  and  useful  trades." ' 

So  much  for  the  dreams.  The  awakening  was  rarely  long 
delayed.  The  great  majority  of  tiie  communities  dissolved 
in  failure  in  the  first  or  second  year  of  the  exixjriment; 
a  few  of  the  Fourierist  phalanxes,  the  Wisconsin,  Brook 
Farm,  and  North  American  communities,  lasted  from  five 
to  twelve  years;  the  Icarian  experiment  had  over  half  a  cen- 
tury of  flickering  existence,  while  a  handful  of  religious  com- 
munities, including  the  Shakers,  the  Amana  Society,  the 
Rappites,  and  the  Oneida  Community,  still  survive,  though 
the  latter  two  have  virtua'ly  become  ordinary  joint-stocK 
companies.  As  the  sequel  to  the  glorious  visions  cited  in 
the  preceding  paragraph  there  might  be  set  down  extracts 
from  the  epitaphs  written  at  the  time,  chiefly  by  members 
of  the  ephemeral  communities:  "the  want  of  means  and 
the  want^  men" ;  "the  sole  occupation  was  parade  and 
talk";  "s#lf-love  was  a  spirit  that  could  not  be  exorcised"; 
"hankering  after  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt";  "Mr.  Owen 
was  not  a  teachable  man" ;  "there  were  few  good  mert  to 
steer  things  right";  "the  soil  being  covered  with  snow  the 
committee  did  not  see  it  before  purchasing";  "a  motley 
group  of  ill-assorted  materials  as  inexperienced  as  it  was 
heterogeneous";  "there  is  no  such  thing  as  organization 
or  unity  without  Christ  and  religion"  ;  "quarreling  about 
what  they  called  religion";  "...  did  not  prevent  the 
purchase  of  hair-dye";  "there  was  no  one  to  tell  them 
what  to  do  and  they  did  not  know  what  to  do  themselves"; 
"a  band  of  musicians  insisted  that  their  brassy  harmony 
was  as  necessary  to  the  common  happiness  as  bread  or 
meat  and  declined   to  enter  the  harv?fet-field  or  work- 

*  Noyfts,  Ili-itory  of  American  Socialiitna. 


^wmr^m^ 


»*i:^^^ 


9« 


SOCIALISM 


'I  i 


shop"  ;  "some  so  contrive  the  work  as  not  to  be  distant  at 
meal-time";  "that  which  produces  in  the  world  only 
commonplace  jealousies  and  everyday  squabbles  is  suf- 
ficient to  destroy  a  community";  "every  one  seemed  to  be 
setting  an  example  and  trying  to  bring  the  others  to  it."' 
Is  the  collapse  of  the  Utopian  movement  to  be  taken  as 
a  condemnation  of  the  ideal  sought  or  merely  of  the  tactics 
employed?  So  far  ns  the  advocates  of  the  small  independ- 
ent communities  were  concerned,  their  tactics  were  success- 
ful, to  the  extent  that  their  schemes  were  given  a  trial.  In 
their  case  the  responsibility  for  the  failure  of  the  move- 
ment rests  clearly  on  the  inherent  impracticability  of  their 
proposals.  The  disciple  of  Fourier  or  Owen  who  succeeded 
in  setting  ip  an  exi)erimental  community  of  the  same  gen- 
eral type  as  the  ultimate  organization  he  proposed,  has  no 
injustice  done  him  if  the  failure  of  his  experiment  is  taken 
as  conclusive  evidence  of  the  futility  of  his  panacea.  Plausi- 
ble- reasons  have  been  advanced  to  the  contrary.  The  com- 
nmnities,  it  is  urged,  were  oases  in  capitalistic  deserts;  their 
failure  could  not  prove  that  a  group  of  kindred  commun- 
ities would  not  succeed.  The  failure,  however,  was  usually 
to  be  ascribed  to  internal  rather  than  external  trouble;  so 
far  as  the  superior  attractions  of  the  neighboring  compet- 
itive society  served  to  lure  away  the  disillusioned,  that  is 
hardly  source  for  just  complaint.  Nor,  in  view  of  the  stress 
laid  in  these  Utopian  schemes  on  the  self-contained  charac- 
ter of  the  communities  and  the  unsatisfactory  provisions 
made  for  the  limited  intercommunal  trade  j>ermitted,  can 
the  environment  be  said  to  be  a  very  material  factor. 
Again,  it  is  explained  that  the  members  of  non-religious 
communities  were  not  of  the  proper  stamp:  they  consisted 
chiefly  of  a  "heterogeneous  crowd  of  idealists  of  all  possible 
vocations,  accustomed  to  ?,  higher  standard  of  life,  and  as 
a  rule  devoid  of  any  knowledge  of  farming."  ^   The  experi- 

'  Noycs,  Tlhtnry  of  Ameriran  Sociali.im.f. 

*  Hillquit,  History  of  Socialism  in  the  United  Statei,  p.  139. 


rV-a-'yT^ .  ^ 


I-  f 


UTOPIAN  SOCIALISM 


9S 


11 


ments  were  usually  undertaken  without  the  means  neces- 
sary for  their  conduct  on  the  scale  and  under  the  conditions 
their  planners  had  presupposed:  "the  experimenters,  as  a 
rule,  had  to  satisfy  themselves  with  a  small  parcel  of  bar- 
ren land  in  the  wilderness,  and  that  heavily  mortgaged. 
.  .  .  One  or  more  miserable  log  huts  took  the  place  of 
the  gorgeous  social  'palace'  and  the  'attractive  industry' 
dwindled  down  to  a  pathetic  and  wearisome  struggle  of  un- 
skilled and  awkward  hands  against  the  obstinate  wiles  of  a 
sterile  and  unyielding  soil."  ^  So  far  as  the  shortcomings  of 
the  community  members  were  due  merely  to    lexperience, 
the  defense  is  a  fair  and  valid  one;  so  far  as  they  were 
rooted  in  crotchety  and  impractical  temperaments,  the 
defense  serves  to  illuminate  the  causes  of  the  success  of  so- 
cialist preaching  rather  than  +o  excuse  the  failure  of  social- 
ist practice.  And  as  for  the  external  diflBculties  faced,  the 
scanty  capital  and  the  reluctant  soil,  the  plea  seems  but 
a  sorry  one  when  we  remember  that  it  was  just  such  dif- 
ficulties as  these  which  the  hosts  of  individualist  pioneers 
have  faced  and  conquered,  not  once  nor  twice  but  millions 
of  times,  in  the  onward  sweep  across  the  American  continent, 
patiently  and  stubbornly  subduing  the  wilderness.   The 
burden  of  the  failure  cannot  be  shifted.    Whenever  the 
stimulus  of  individual  and  family  interest  was  withdrawn, 
disaster  followed,  except  m  the  few  cases  where  religious 
fanaticism  and  monastic  discipline  supplied  a  centripetal 
force  in  substitute.* 

For  those  socialists,  on  the  contrary,  whose  ideal  unit 
was  the  state,  no  attempt  at  a  partial  and  local  application 
of  their  proposals  could  afford  a  basis  for  definite  conclu- 

>  Hillquit,  History  of  SocialUm  in  the  United  States,  p.  97. 

>  As  Hillquit  poinU  out  {ibid.,  p.  139),  the  comparative  success  of  the 
sectarian  communities  is  due  in  part  to  the  fact  that  they  were  "chiefly 
composed  of  German  peasants,  men  skilled  in  tillage  of  the  soil,  and 
whose  wants  were  more  than  modest,"  and  in  part  to  their  readiness  to 
discard  communism,  which  waa  but  a  secondary  incident  in  their  religious 
experiment. 


M 


SOCIALISM 


1 1  \v  ! 


sions.  In  the  experimental  community  the  task  was  in 
some  respects  more  difiScult,  in  others  simpler  than  in  a 
state-wide  attempt;  its  failure  could  not  conclusively  de- 
monstrate the  worthlessness,  nor  its  success  the  worth,  of  the 
wider  plan.  It  was  necessary  that  the  nation  should  move 
as  a  whole,  and  to  that  end  their  nation-wide  propaganda 
was  directed.  The  propaganda  failed;  not,  the  modem 
socialist  contends,  because  the  end  they  proposed  was  im- 
practicable, but  because  of  their  Utopian  trust  in  the  pos- 
sibility of  persuading  the  rich  to  relinquish  their  privileges. 
The  sweet  reasonableness  of  the  Saint-Simonist  agita- 
tion provokes  the  ridicule  of  the  militant,  class-conscious 
Marxian.  The  discussion  of  the  comparative  merits  of  the 
Utopian  tactics  and  of  the  later  methods  of  revolutionary 
uprisings,  {x>litical  agitation,  and  syndicalist  pressure,  must, 
however,  be  postponed  until  the  doctrines  and  aims  of  pre- 
sent-day socialism  have  been  examined. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   MARXIAN    ANALYSIS:    I.   THE   MATERIALISTIC 
CONCEPTION  OF  HISTORY 


13 

1 
I 


The  chief  contribution  of  Karl  Marx  to  socialist  theory 
and  practice,  we  have  seen,  was  to  represent  socialism  as 
no  longer  an  individual  fantasy,  a  sect's  Utopia,  but  as  the 
inevitable  next  step  in  the  development  of  human  society. 
He  put  socialism  in  the  main  current  of  the  world's  history. 
He  attained  a  new  conception  of  the  forces  that  have  shaped 
society  in  the  past  and  that  will  shape  it  in  the  future, 
a  conception  which  changed  the  point  of  view  of  the  ana- 
lysis of  the  capitalistic  system,  conditioned  the  ideal  com- 
monwealth which  was  to  develop  out  of  capitalism,  and 
shaped  the  tactics  of  the  movement.  This  new  doctrine, 
this  new  attitude  to  life,  is  what  is  known  as  the  Material- 
istic Conception  of  History. 

The  Utopian  analysis  of  the  existing  social  order  as  a 
gigantic  error  due  to  the  ignorance  or  knavery  of  past  gen- 
erations, and  the  consequent  Utopian  proposals  to  remake 
the  whole  social  structure  on  a  rational  pattern,  were 
merely,  it  has  been  noted,  the  exaggerated  outcome  of  the 
absolute  and  unhistorical  character  of  the  thinking  of 
the  age.  Marx  was  equally  the  child  of  his  time.  He  grew 
to  intellectual  maturity  under  the  influence  of  a  strong  reac- 
tion against  the  eighteenth-century  view.  It  was  begun  by 
the  attempt  of  the  opponents  of  the  French  Revolution  — 
notably  Burke,  De  Bonald,  De  Maistre  and  De  Lamennais 
—  to  defend  the  ancient  institutions  and  ancient  customs 
which  had  been  condemned  at  the  bar  of  rationalist  in- 
dividualism, to  show  particularly  that  political  societies 
did  not  originate  in  conscious  contract,  that  constitutions 


96 


SOCIALISM 


could  not  be  made  to  order,  and  that  bot^  societies  and  con- 
stitutions were  natural  growths  out  of  i  le  character  and 
conditions  of  the  people.'  There  was  no  "natural  order," 
to  serve  as  a  universal  standard.  Political  systems  which 
seemed  irrational  to  the  modem  radical  had  their  justifica- 
tion in  that  they  reflected  the  social  relations  and  industrial 
development  of  their  place  and  time.  Gradua  W  the  new 
conceptions  of  the  relative  justification  of  past  institutions, 
and  the  necessary  connection  between  the  different  expres- 
sions of  a  people's  life  came  to  pervade  the  thinking  of  the 
forties  and  fifties.  In  history,  Guizot  pointed  out  that 
the  French  Revolution  was  merely  the  political  reflection 
of  the  struggle  between  feudalism  and  the  bourgeoisie;  in 
jurisprudence,  Savigny  demonstrated  the  relativity  of 
legal  systems  to  various  stages  in  the  progress  of  society ;  in 
economics,  Roscher  was  soon  to  fouwd  the  historical  school. 
Saint-Simon's  fertile  pioneer  efforts  in  the  same  field  were 
being  systematized  and  developed  by  his  pupil  Comte.  For 
the  development  of  Marx  and  of  scientific  socialism,  how- 
ever, the  most  important  exponents  of  the  new  tendency 
were  Hegel  and  the  Hegelians  of  the  Left. 

The  conception  of  development,  of  process,  was  the  key- 
note of  Hegel's  whole  comprehensive  system  of  thought. 
Human  history  was  not  an  accidental  succession  of  events, 
a  "wild  whirl  of  senseless  deeds  of  violence,"  ^  but,  like  all 
other  reality,  the  record  of  the  unfolding  of  the  Idea,  pro- 
ceeding by  its  own  inner  necessity  to  a  self-recognized  goal. 
Progress,  Hegel  maintained,  takes  place  by  the  method  of 
dialectic,  through  the  three  phases  of  thesis,  antithesis,  and 
synthesis  "  <!  in  logic  truth  develops  from  aflSrmation,  im- 
plying b^  asion  its  negation,  to  the  higher  synthesis  in 
which  the  contradiction  is  solved,  only  to  provide  a  start- 
ing-point for  another  dialectic  process,  so  "n  history,  which 
is  logic  in  action,  the  nations  and  the  woi  d-characters  in 

>  Cf.  Flint,  Philosophy  of  History,  chap.  vii. 

'  Engels.  Socidli^'n,  Utopian  and  Scientific,  p.  36. 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


97 


i 


which  in  turn  the  universal  spirit  partially  finds  expression 
—  unconsciously  controlled  to  ends  not  their  own  by  rea- 
son's "cunning"  —  in  turn  succumb  to  the  depositaries  of 
the  conflicting  ideas,  and  become  one  element  in  a  reconcil- 
ing synthesis. 

Marx,  like  all  young  university  Germany  in  the  early 
forties,  was  steeped  in  the  dominant  Hegelianism.    But 
already  in  his  time  the  contradiction  between  the  revolu- 
tionary character  of  the  dialectic  process  and  the  reaction- 
ary character  of  the  results  obtained  by  it,  had  split  the 
schools  into  warring  wings  of  Right  and  Left.  By  the  one 
wing  the  conservative  side  of  Hegel's  two-edged  declara- 
tion that  "all  that  is  real  is  reasonable"  was  emphasized, 
Junkerdom  and  Lutheran  orthodoxy  given  foundation,  and 
the  Prussian  state  regarded  as  the  cro'^Tiing  manifestation 
of  the  Absolute.  By  the  other,  the  reality  of  these  institu- 
tions was  denied  and  their  speedy  passing  by  dialectic  ne- 
cessity foretold.   In  the  stress  of  controversy  with  Church 
and  State  these  Hegelians  of  the  Left  were  driven  to  the 
French  thinkers  of  the  Enlightenment  for  weapons.  Their 
doctrines  took  on  a  more  and  more  materialistic  tinge  till 
finally,  in  the  work  of  Feuerbach,  "the  dialectic  of  the  Idea 
became  itself  merely  the  conscious  reflex  of  the  dialectical 
evolution  of  the  real  world,  and  therefore  the  dialectic  of 
Hegel  was  turned  upside  down,  or  rather  it  was  placed  upon 
its  feet  instead  of  on  its  head,  where  it  was  standing  before."  ^ 
It  was  the  Feuerbach  version,  or  perversion,  of  Hegel- 
ianism which  appealed  to  Marx  and  Engels.  WTien,  there- 
fore, they  came  to  formulate,  as  every  true  German  must, 
a  philosophy  of  history,  while  they  retained  the  master's 
belief  in  the  continuity  and  explicability  of  history,  and 
his  dialectic  process,  they  sought  the  motive  force,  not  in 
the  Idea  b  it  in  the  material,  and  especially  the  economic, 
conditions  in  which  men  are  placed. 

>  Engels,  Feuerbach.  The  Roots  of  the  Socialist  Philosophy,  translated 
by  Lewis,  p.  9C. 


■^t^mik^kJ: 


j  r-m 


SOCIALISM 

Their  statements  of  the  Materialistic  Conception  of  His- 
tory are  unfortunately  fragmentary  and  incidental,  and  the 
phrasing  is  far  from  clear,  so  that  much  ambiguity  arises 
in  the  interpretation.  In  view  both  of  the  importance  and 
of  the  ambiguity  of  the  doctrine,  it  is  advisable  to  quote 
the  chief  presentations. 

The  best-known  statement  is  that  of  Engels:  "The  Mani- 
festo being  our  joint  production,  I  consider  myself  bound 
to  state  that  the  fundamental  proposition  which  forms  its 
nucleus  belongs  to  Marx.  That  proposition  is,  that  in 
every  historical  epoch,  the  prevailing  mode  of  economic 
production  and  exchange,  and  the  social  organization  neces- 
sarily following  from  it,  form  the  basis  upon  which  is  built 
up,  and  from  which  alone  can  be  explained,  the  political 
and  intellectual  history  of  that  epoch;  that  consequently 
the  whole  history  of  mankind  (since  the  dissolution  of  prim- 
itive tribal  society,  holding  land  in  common  ownership) 
has  been  a  history  of  class  struggles,  contests  between 
exploiting  and  exploited,  ruling  and  oppressed  classes;  that 
the  history  of  these  class  struggles  forms  a  series  of  evo- 
lution in  which,  nowadays,  a  stage  has  been  reached 
where  the  exploited  and  oppressed  class  —  the  proletariat 
—  cannot  attain  its  emancipation  from  the  sway  of  the 
exploiting  and  ruling  class  —  the  bourgeoisie  —  without,  at 
the  same  time,  and  once  and  for  all,  emancipating  society 
at  large  from  all  exploitation,  oppression,  class  distinctions 
and  class  struggles." ' 

More  concisely,  he  defines  it  as  "that  view  of  the  course 
of  hii  .ory  which  seeks  the  ultimate  cause  and  the  great 
moving  power  of  all  important  historic  events  in  the  eco- 
nomic development  of  society,  in  the  changes  in  the  modes 
of  production  and  exchange,  in  the  consequent  division  of 
society  into  classes  against  one  another."  ^ 

'  Preface  to  English  translation  of  Communint  Manifesto,  1888. 
'  Sociali.im,  Utopian  and  Scientific,  translated  by  Aveling,  Introduc- 
tion, p.  XIX. 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


M 


Afiain:  "From  this  point  of  view  the  final  causes  of  all 
social  changes  and  political  revolutions  are  to  be  sought, 
not  in  men's  brains,  not  in  men's  better  insight  into  eter- 
nal truth  and  justice,  but  in  changes  in  the  modes  of 
production  and  exchange.  They  are  to  be  sought  not  in 
the  philosophy  but  in  the  economics  of  each  particular 
ejKKih." ' 

Finally,  Marx  himself:  "In  the  social  production  which 
men  carry  on,  they  enter  into  definite  relations  that  are 
indispensable  and  independent  of  their  will;  these  relations 
of  production  correspond  to  a  definite  stage  of  develop- 
ment of  their  material  powers  of  production.  The  sum  total 
of  these  relations  of  production  constitutes  the  economic 
structure  of  society  —  the  real  foundation,  on  which  rise 
legal  and  political  superstructiues  and  to  which  correspond 
definite  forms  of  social  consciousness.  The  mode  of  pro- 
duction in  material  life  determines  the  general  character  of 
the  social,  political,  and  spiritual  processes  in  life.  It  is  not 
the  consciousness  of  men  that  determines  their  existence, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  their  social  existence  determines  their 
consciousness.  At  a  certain  stage  of  their  development,  the 
material  forces  of  production  in  society  come  into  conflict 
with  the  existing  relations  of  production,  or  —  what  is  but 
a  legal  expression  of  the  same  thing  —  with  the  property 
relations  within  which  they  had  been  at  work  before. 
From  forms  of  development  of  the  forces  of  production 
these  relations  turn  into  their  fetters.    Then  comes  the 
period  of  social  revolution.  With  the  change  of  the  eco- 
nomic foundation  the  entire  immense  superstructure  is  more 
or  less  rapidly  transformed.  In  considering  such  transform- 
ations the  distinction  should  always  be  made  between  the 
material  transformation  of  the  economic  conditions  of  pro- 
duction, which  can  be  determined  with  the  precision  of 
natural  science,  and  the  legal,  political,  religious,  aesthetic, 
or  philosophic  —  in  short,  ideological  —  forms  in  which 
*  Socialism,  Utopian  and  Scient^c.  pp.  41,  45;  italics  in  original. 


\^-'f:^'^^- 


Avi»S'-p 


100 


SOCLVLISM 


men  become  conscious  of  their  conflict  and  fight  it 
out."  I 

On  the  threshold  the  question  arises  whether  this  materi- 
alistic conception  is  materialistic  in  the  ontological  sense. 
Many  categorical  statements  of  Marx  lend  color  to  the 
assertion  that  he  was,  metaphysically,  a  materialist.  "To 
Hegel,"  he  declared, "  the  life  processes  of  the  human  brain, 
i.  e.,  the  process  of  thinking,  which  under  the  name  of  'the 
Idea'  he  even  transforms  into  an  independent  subject, 
is  the  demiurgos  of  the  real  world,  and  the  real  world  is  only 
the  external,  phenomenal  form  of  'the  Idea.'  With  me, 
on  the  contrary,  the  ideal  is  nothing  else  than  the  material 
world  reflected  by  the  human  mind,  and  translated  into 
terras  of  thought."  Again  he  sets  in  opposition  "ich  Ma- 
terialist, Hegel  Idealist."  Yet  some  of  his  acutest  critics 
deny,  and  seemingly  w  th  reason,  that  his  materialism  was 
more  than  a  positivist  revolt  against  metaphysical  specu- 
lations of  idealists  and  materialists  alike,  a  resolution  to 
confine  himself  to  the  interrogation  of  experience,  whether 
or  not  it  were  ultimate.^  However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain 
that  Marx  does  not  stand  for  an  out-and-out  materialist 
explanation  of  the  connection  between  the  material  world 
and  men's  actions,  since  such  an  interpretation  "could 
scarcely  avoid  making  its  putative  dialectic  struggle  a 
mere  unconscious  and  irrelevant  conflict  of  the  brute  ma- 
terial forces.  This  would  have  amounted  to  an  interpreta- 
tion in  terms  of  opaque  cause  and  effect,  without  recourse 
to  the  concept  of  a  conscious  class  struggle."^  His  theory, 
then,  may  be  said  to  be  materialistic  chiefly  in  the  sense 
that  it  contends  that  the  struggle  for  the  material  means  of 
life  conditions  the  growth  of  society. 

An  examination  of  this  theory,  and  particularly  of  the 

'  Contribution  to  the  Critique  of  Political  Economy,  translated  by  Stone, 
pp.  11-12. 

'  Cf.  Adier,  Kausalitiit  und  Teleologie  im  Streite  am  die  Wiaaenachajt; 
Marx-Studien,  i,  pp.  303,  305. 

'  Veblen,  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  ix,  p.  581. 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


101 


concrete  examples  offered  in  illustration,  reveals  the  fact 
that  it  is  susceptible  of  two  quite  distinct  interpretations. 
In  one  interpretation,  it  is  an  attempt  to  show  the  final 
and  determining  influence  of  economic  conditions,  acting 
directly  on  human  history,  and  particularly  on  the  juristic, 
political,  religious,  ethical,  artistic,  and  scientific  concep- 
tions men  frame,  an  influence  exerted  through  circumscrib- 
ing limitations  of  vision,  through  the  working  of  analogy, 
through  the  compulsion  of  economic  desire.  From  this 
viewpoint  it  is  simply  a  variation  or  extension  of  the 
Bodin-Montesquieu-Buckle  theories  of  the  influence  of 
material  environment,  laying  the  stress  on  economic  rather 
than  geographic  or  climatic  features.  In  the  other  and  dis- 
tinctively Hegelian  interpretation,  it  is  mainly  a  study  in 
the  dynamics  of  politics,  an  attempt  to  show  that  "the 
final  causes  of  all  social  changes  and  political  revolutions" 
are  to  be  sought  in  the  economic  conditions,  working  — 
this  is  the  characteristic  point  —  through  class  struggles. 
A  conclusive  illustration  of  this  twofold  character  is  af- 
forded by  the  fact  that  the  standard  English  statement  of 
the  theory,  the  able  presentation  by  Professor  Seligman,* 
is  confined  entirely  to  the  first  version,  making  none  but 
the  most  incidental  reference  to  the  class-struggle  doc- 
trine, and  hence  arriving  at  the  natural  deduction  that  the 
only  connection  between  socialism  and  the  materialistic 
conception   of  history  is  "the  accidental  fact  that  the 
originator  of  both  theories  happened  to  be  the  same  man"  * 
—  which,  to  vary  the  old  saw,  is  as  much  as  to  say  that  the 
Prince  of  Denmark  happened  to  be  one  of  the  characters  in 
"Hamlet,"   It  may  be  true  that  the  doctrines  of  Marxian 
socialism  are  not  a  logical  or  necessarj'  deduction  from  the 
first  or  even  from  the  second  version  of  this  theory;  but  it 
is  equally  true  that,  logically  or  not,  it  was  this  theory 
on  which  they  were  in  great  part  based  and  which  has 

•  The  Economic  Interpretation  of  Hittory. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  105. 


10« 


SOCIALISM 


f- 
.1 


shitped  not  only  the  doctrine  but  the  practical  activity  of 
the  hitier-day  movement. 

It  is  the  first  version  which  Is  apparent  in  Marx's  inci- 
dental illustration  of  the  influence  of  economic  and  material 
conditions  on  the  development  of  science  —  the  origin  of 
astronomy  in  the  necessity  of  measuring  the  Nile  flow.' 
It  is  this  version,  applied  to  the  explanation  of  religious 
phenomena,  which  appears  in  Marx's  declaration  that  the 
religious  world  ia  but  the  reflex  of  the  real  world,  and  Chris- 
tianity, with  its  endless  worship  of  abstract  man,  the  fitting 
religion  for  a  society  based  on  the  production  of  commodi- 
ties the  value  of  which  is  abstractly  reduced  to  the  stand- 
ard of  homogeneous  human  labor;'  »)r  in  Engcls' attempt 
to  deduce  Calvinism  from  the  economic  conditions  of  the 
Reformation  times,'  or  in  Kautsky's  explanation  of  the 
otherworldliness  of  Christianity,*  or  in  Veblen's  theory 
that  the  conceptions  men  frame  of  the  deity  change  with 
the  change  of  economic  organization,  —  Suzerain  in  feudal 
days.  Great  Artificer  when  handicraft  dominated,'  and, 
adds  Andler,  !aissez-faire  Watchmaker  in  laissez-faire  days.' 
It  is  this  version,  applied  to  ethics,  which  leads  Kautsky  to 

>  Capital,  i.  Humboldt  edition,  p.  321.  »  Ibid.,  p.  32. 

'  "His  [Calvin's]  predestination  doctrine  was  the  religious  expression 
of  the  fact  that  in  the  commercial  world  of  competition  success  or  failure 
does  not  depend  upon  a  man's  activity  or  cleverness  but  upon  circum- 
stances uncontrollable  by  him.  It  is  not  of  him  that  willeth  or  of  him  that 
runneth  but  of  the  mercy  of  unknown  sufH-rior  economic  powers;  and  this 
was  especially  true  at  a  period  of  economic  revolutions  when  all  old  com- 
mercial routes  and  centres  were  replaced  by  new  ones,  when  India  and 
America  were  opened  to  the  world,  and  when  even  the  most  sacred  eco- 
nomic articles  of  faith  —  the  value  of  gold  and  silver  —  began  to  totter 
and  break  down."  —  Socialism,  Utopian  and  Scientific,  pp.  xxi-xxii. 

*  "  It  is  in  my  opinion  possible  to  explain  the  aversion  to  earthly  things 
and  the  longing  for  death  of  Christianity  by  the  material  conditions  of  the 
time  of  the  Roman  Empire.  It  were,  however,  preposterous  to  try  to  find 
a  material  interest  as  the  cause  of  the  longing  for  death."  —  Neue  Zeit, 
XV,  p.  215;  cited  in  Roudin,  op.  cil.,  p.  260. 

'  Americaii  Journal  of  Sociology,  xi,  p.  596. 

'  Le  Manifegte  Communiste,  ii.  Introduction  hiftorique  et  commeiUaire, 
p.  158. 


THE  MARXUN  ANALYSIS 


103 


i 

i 


demonstrate  the  connection  between  a  limited  food-supply 
and  the  categorical  imperative  to  kill  the  old  and  feeble,' 
or  Seligman  to  point  out  that  the  virtue  of  hospitality  is 
far  more  imix>rtant  in  the  pastoral  stage  than  in  the  indus- 
trial,'' or  Ghent  to  remind  us  that  no  John  Howard  api)ears 
among  the  Apaches.'  It  is  this  form,  again,  which  throws 
light  on  the  origin  of  primitive  institutions,''  as  with  Mor- 
gan's finding  in  the  growth  of  projierty  and  the  desire 
for  its  transmission  to  children  the  moving  power  which 
brought  in  monogamy  to  insure  legitimate  heirs,'  or  Cu- 
now's  economic  explanation  of  the  development  of  the 
matriarchate  in  the  growing  importance  of  women  when 
agriculture  and  domestic  industry  took  the  place  of  hunt- 
ing." It  is  from  this  standpoint  that  modern  historians 
have  rewritten  the  story  of  every  war  from  the  Pelopon- 
nesian  struggle  to  the  Russo-Japanese  war,  finding  each  at 
bottom  inspired  by  economic  necessity,  by  the  need  of  out- 
let for  the  support  of  growing  populations,  by  the  hunger 
for  colonies,  for  trade-routes,  and  for  markets.^ 


•  Kautsky  quotes  from  Nansen's  Enq^iimanx  Lifr:  "When  this  t  a 
had  spoken  to  an  Eskimo  girl  of  love  of  iUxl  and  our  neighbor,  she  su.d, 
'  I  have  proved  that  I  love  my  neighbor  because  an  old  woman  who  was  ill 
and  could  not  die  begged  me  that  I  would  take  her  for  a  payment  to  the 
steep  cliff,  from  which  those  always  are  thrown  who  can  no  more  live.  But 
because  I  love  my  people,  I  took  her  there  for  nothing  and  threw  her  down 
from  the  rocks,'"  and  comments:  "We  have  seen  that  the  necessity  for 
killing  old  and  sick  members  of  so<'iety  verv  easily  arises  with  a  limited 
foo<l-supply  and  this  killing  becomes  then  signnlize<l  as  a  moral  act."  — 
Kthics  and  the  MalerialiMic  Conreptinn  of  llintory,  translate<l  by  Askew, 
p.  ISi. 

'  The  Economic  Inlerpretation  of  History,  p.  129. 
'  Mass  and  Class,  p.  17. 

*  It  is  significant  that  after  Engels  had  .studied  the  primitive  stages  of 
human  development  somewhat  more  closely  he  explicitly  excepted  them 
from  the  operation  of  the  class-struggle  version  of  the  doctrine.  (Preface 
to  the  Communist  Manifesto,  1886.) 

'  Ancient  Society,  1st  edition,  p.  477. 
'  Ncue  Zeit,  x\n,  pp.  238.  241 ;  cited  in  Seligman,  p.  80. 
'  Cf.  a  comprehensive  review  in  Robinson,  "War  and  Economics," 
Political  Science  Quarterly,  xv,  p.  581. 


w 

I' 


IM 


SOCIALISM 


With  much  of  Marx's  contention,  as  thus  interpreted, 
one  must  agree.  His  emphasis  on  the  importance  of  the 
economic  factor  in  history  was  a  natural  reaction  from  that 
unreal  closet  pliilosophy  which  read  all  life  in  terms  of  intel- 
lectual speculation,  and  judged  it  beneath  the  dignity  of 
history  to  take  heed  of  the  effect  of  the  ways  in  which  men 
earned  their  living.  All  history  is  Iwing  rewritten  under 
the  mfluence  of  this  fertile  conception  —  a  conception  of 
course  not  due  to  Marx  alone.  But,  not  content  with 
merely  stressing  this  neglected  factor,  Marx,  as  is  inevitable 
in  the  proclamation  of  a  revolutionary  idea,  exaggerated 
the  doctrme  to  an  indefensible  degree.  The  best  evidence 
of  this  exaggeration  is  found  in  the  continual  attempts 
made  since  by  the  oropounders  of  the  doctrine,  themselves 
and  their  most  orthodox  disciples,  to  hedge  and  qualify,  and 
to  stretch  the  phrasing  to  include  omitted  forces.  To  the 
"productive  forces"  to  which  Marx  assigned  full  primocy, 
Engels  early  added  "the  conditions  of  exchange,"  a  factor 
which  in  any  accurate  interpretation  of  Marx's  doctrine 
must  be  considered  secondary.'  Race,  again,  is  elevated  by 
Engels  to  the  dignity  of  a  primary  force,'  and  an  attempt 
made  to  bring  those  geographical  and  climatic  influences 
on  which  Buckle  had  laid  stress  within  the  concept.  Still 
more  inconsistent  is  the  contention  of  Kautsky  that  nat- 
ural science  and  even  mathematics  must  also  l)e  included: 
"the  present  condition  of  mathematics  constitutes  a  part 
of  the  e<'onomic  conditions  of  existing  society  as  much  as 
the  present  condition  of  machine  technique  or  of  the  world 
of  commerce."  3  Engels  himself  in  his  last  years  admitted 
the  exaggeration  of  the  earlier  statements,  and  by  recog- 
nizing the  influence  of  the  ideological  forces  increased  the 
tenability  of  the  theory  at  the  expense  of  its  consistency.* 

*  ("f.  Tugan-Baranowsky,  Theorefitche  Grundlagen  de.i  MaTrismu»,  p.  11. 
«  Documente  des  Soriali.imux,  ii,  p.  74.  »  Die  Neue  Zeit,  xv.  1 ,  p.  434. 

*  Cf.  letters  to  Der  Social istische  Akadciiker,  1895,  cited  in  SeliKman. 
op.  cit.,  p.  04,  and  Masaryk.  PhilosophUche  und  aociologiache  Grundlagen 
4fs  Marzismiu.  pp.  lO.S-109. 


THE  MARXL\N  ANALYSIS 


105 


The  attempt  at  a  monistic  interpretation  of  history,  the 
endeavor  to  find  one  pass-key  wliich  .ill  unlock  all  the 
secrets  of  the  past,  is  reluctantly  and  silently  abandoned. 
It  is  imfiossible  to  brin^  al!  the  wide  mn^  of  human 
interests  and  motives  under  a  single  rubric.  The  thirst  for 
fame  and  for  |K)wer,  religious  lupiration,  racial  f)rejudice, 
.sex-attraction,  scientific  curiosity,  the  insliurt  of  play,  are 
as  real  and  as  primary  forces  as  economic  environment.  It 
is  true  that  since  life  is  a  unity  and  our  varied  interests  arc 
not  separated  in  water-tight  compartments,  each  of  these 
forces  continually  reacts  on  the  others.  It  is  possible, 
therefore,  for  a  theorist  to  isolate  the  instances  of  the  way 
in  which  one  of  these  factors  has  colored  and  conditioned 
the  others,  and,  neglecting  entirely  the  reactions  in  the  con- 
trary direction,  to  frame  a  doctrine  of  the  overwhelming 
importance  of  this  or  that  human  interest.  Such  a  method 
can  make  no  cl'»'  >o  scientific  finality  or  completeness. 
Instead  of  interpr  ing  history  it  cramps  and  perverts  it 
and  leads  to  an  utter  disre;;ard  of  historical  proportion.  One 
must  put  on  the  blinders  of  prepossession  to  see  in  the  doc- 
trine of  predestination  merely  a  refiection  of  the  uncer- 
tainty of  commercial  success,  —  an  explanation  which 
hardly  accounts  for  its  taking  root  in  commercially  back- 
ward Scotland  rather  than  in  commercially  developed  Ven- 
ice, or  makes  it  clear  why  the  doctrine  did  not  arise  in  the 
equally  uncertain  i)olitical  struggles  of  renaissance  Italy, 
when,  as  Machiavelli  regretfully  admitted,  "fortune  was 
the  arbiter  of  one  half  of  our  actions."  '  It  is  unscientific  to 
note  how  industrial  conditions  may  shape  religious  devel- 
opment, and  to  neglect  the  counter-influence,  to  overlook, 
for  example,  +he  tremendous  effect  of  the  religious  taboo  on 
meat  on  certai..  fast-days  on  the  fishing  industry,  on  the 
voyages  to  the  Newfoundland  Banks  and  the  consequent 
exploration  and  development  of  Northern  America;  or,  to 
take  a  more  complex  and  indirect  instance,  the  effect  of  the 

'  Tke  Prince,  chap.  iS. 


'It 


106 


SOCIALISM 


vfr:.i  • 

'".•:'....-n 

adoption  of  the  Pro'  3stant  religion  on  the  development  of 
industrial  institutions.  It  is  unscientific  to  stress  the  im- 
portance of  the  economic  factor  in  the  development  of  the 
family  and  to  overlook  the  influence  of  family  feeling  on 
the  industrial  organization,  exerted,  for  example,  through 
the  institution  of  inheritance  and  the  desire  to  provide  for 
one's  children  or  "found  a  family,"  or  to  neglect  the  im- 
portance of  the  instinct  for  adornment  and  sex-impression 
in  stimulating  and  shaping  the  direction  of  industry. 

It  is  illuminating  in  many  instances  to  disentangle  the 
economic  interests  which  have  played  their  important 
shares  in  the  wars  of  the  past,  the  more  so  because  of  the 
undue  neglect  accorded  this  source  of  strife  by  historians 
engrossed  with  surface  personalities.  But  it  is  only  to 
darken  knowledge  to  thrust  this  explanation  into  the  fore- 
ground in  every  case  and  even  to  attribute  to  it  exclusive 
influence,  to  trace  the  cause  of  the  Spanish-American  war 
to  the  Cuban  sugar  situation,'  or,  in  face  of  the  consensus 
of  opinion  among  competent  recent  investigators  that  the 
British  colonial  system  did  not  work  materially  to  the  de- 
triment of  American  industrial  development,*  to  find  the 
cause  of  the  American  Revolution  in  the  "economic  dis- 
content of  a  sadly  exploited  people,"'  instead  of  in  the  im- 
possibility, in  the  then  conditions  of  imperial  organization, 
of  a  free  people  consenting  permanently  to  be  ruled  even 
for  their  own  industrial  good  by  men  no  abler  than  them- 
selves three  thousand  miles  away.  In  every  war,  Hunnish 
inroad,  Iroquois  raid,  Mahometan  expansion.  Christian 
Crusade,  Napoleonic  struggle,  British-Boer  or  Spanish- 
American  conflict,  one  finds  mingled  in  greatly  varying  pro- 
portions some  or  all  of  such  motives  as  the  desire  to  make 


'  Cited  in  Seligman,  op.  cit.,  p.  86. 

=  Cf.  Bwr  British  Colonial  Policy,  17r>r,-17r,:,,  an<l  Asliley.  "The Com- 
mercial Ix-Kisliition  of  Englanti  and  the  American  Colonies,  1600-1760," 
Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  xiv,  p.  1. 

'  Spargo,  Socialiim,  p.  68. 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


lOT 


a  name  for  prowess,  to  "wreak  one's  ego  on  the  cosmos," 
the  thirst  for  "sport"  and  excitement,  religious  fanaticism, 
the  memory  of  traditional  feuds,  dynastic  ambition,  the 
altruistic  desire  to  help  the  under  dog,  racial  jealousy  fired 
by  medicine-man  or  yellow  press,  and  the  economic  interest 
of  a  whole  or  a  dominant  section  of  a  people.  The  historian 
who  is  seduced  by  the  intoxication  of  a  new  idea  or  the  de- 
sire to  be  up  to  date  into  finding  none  but  the  latter  factor 
at  work  has  no  more  read  history  than  the  "  realist "  novelist 
who  finds  only  the  ugly  and  the  sordid  real  has  read  life* 
It  is,  however,  the  second  version  of  the  theory  which  is 
most  distinctively  Marxian.  The  materialistic  conception 
of  history  is  an  interpretation  of  the  past  and  the  present 
as  a  continuous  dialectical  process,  a  development  by  in- 
cessant struggle  of  opposing  forces.   The  forces  engaged, 
however,  are  not,  as  with  Hegel,  successive  manifestations 
of  the  Idea,  but  class  groups  produced  by  economic  con- 
ditions. As  in  the  first  version,  the  economic  conditions  of 
a  period  are  regarded  as  all-important,  but  attention  is  con- 
centrated on  one  means  by  which  their  influence  is  exerted 
—  the  formation  of  warring  classes  of  exploiting  and  ex- 
ploited.   Changes  in  the  methods  of  production  and  ex- 
change result  in  developing  new  classes  which  war  with  the 
dominant  order,  subdue  it,  and  are  in  turn  brought  into 
conflict  with  their  victorious  successor.    In  the  present 
epoch  the  struggle  lies  between  the  bourgeoisie,  the  exploit- 
ing class,  and  the  proletariat,  the  exploited:  the  antagon- 
ism between  them  corresponds  to  the  antagonisms  which 
exist  in  the  relations  of  production  to-day,  between  the 
social  character  of  production  and  the  individual  character 
of  appropriation  of  the  product,  as  well  as  between  the 
coordination  and  harmony  which  exist  in  the  individual 
factory  and  the  anarchy  which  marks  production  as  a 
whole.   This  conflict  will  prove  the  last;  the  victory  of  the 

•  Cf.  for  an  extended  discussion  of  the  doctrine,  Tugan-Baranowskyt 
Theoretische  Grundlagen  det  Marxismus,  pp.  1-129. 


!  i 


108 


SOCIALISM 


I)roletariat  will  mean  the  end  both  of  the  class  interest  and 
of  the  class  struggle.  Exploitation  and  class  struggle  — 
these  are  the  keynotes  of  the  doctrine. 

At  the  outset  the  same  criticism  must  be  made  on  this 
as  on  the  first  version :  neither  in  the  past  nor  in  the  present 
can  the  life  of  man  be  reduced  entirely  to  economic  terms. 
Marx  is  simply  arraying  in  somewhat  different  costume  that 
hobgoblin  of  the  classical  economist  myth-makers,  the 
economic  man,  and  projecting  his  shadow  not  only  over 
the  individualist  era  of  modern  capitalism  but  over  all  pre- 
ceding history.  It  is  sometimes  contended,  it  is  true,  that 
Marx  does  not  imply  that  men  are  invariably  actuated  by 
motives  of  personal  economic  interest.  This  is  quite  correct, 
if  it  is  meant  that '  le  motive  which  immediately  actuates 
the  individual  is  not  necessarily  a  consciously  recognized 
material  one.*  Yet  it  is  of  the  essence  of  Marx's  position 
that  the  material  interest  of  the  individual  or  class  should 
be  considered  as  the  reality  in  the  background,  however 
it  may  be  obscured  by  "ideological  veils."  The  point  may 
be  illustrated  by  the  contrast  between  the  position  of  Marx 
himself  and  of  one  of  his  otherwise  most  orthodox  disciples, 
the  American  Marxist,  Louis  Boudin.    In  a  controversy 


!} 


*  "The  will  is  determined  by  passion  or  reflection,  but  the  levers  which 
phjsion  or  reflection  immediately  apply  are  of  very  different  kinds.  Some- 
times it  may  be  external  circumstances,  sometimes  ideal  motives,  zeal  for 
honor,  enthusiasm  for  truih  and  justice,  personal  hate.  .  .  .  But  the 
question  arises:  What  driving  force  stands  in  turn  behind  these  motives 
of  action;  what  are  the  historical  causes  which  transform  themselves  into 
motives  of  action  in  the  brains  of  the  agents? "  —  Engels,  Feuerbach,  pp. 
105-106. 

"  In  the  domain  of  historico-sociai  determinism,  the  linking  of  causes  to 
effects,  of  conditions  to  the  thing  conditioned,  of  antecedents  to  conse- 
quents, is  never  evident  at  first  sight  in  the  subjective  det'^rminism  of 
individual  psychology.  .  .  .  We  begin  with  the  motives  religious,  polit- 
ical, esthetic,  passionate,  etc.,  but  must  subsequently  discover  the  cans, -3 
of  these  motives  in  the  material  conditions  underlying  them.  .  .  .  Some 
ideological  envelope  which  prevented  any  sight  of  the  real  causes."  —  La- 
briola.  Essays  on  the  Materialistic  Conception  of  History,  translated  by 
Kerr,  pp.  110,  105. 


THE  MARaIAN  analysis 


100 


with  a  brother  socialist  who  maintained  that  the  material- 
istic conception  of  history  was  incompatible  with  individ- 
ual idealism,  Boudin  ofiFers  the  illustration  of  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  Russians  and  Japanese  sacrificing  their  lives  on  the 
altar  of  patriotism,  for  an  ideal  which  was,  in  the  case  of  the 
poorer  classes,  a  reflection  not  of  their  own  material  inter- 
ests but  of  the  interests  of  a  ruling  class.'  Here  the  individ- 
ual is  actuated  by  an  ideal  which  blinds  him  to  his  own  ma- 
terial interest.  Contrast  with  this  any  of  the  concrete  stud- 
ies in  which  Marx  applied  his  doctrine,  for  example,  his 
analysis  of  the  rise  of  the  Empire  of  Napoleon  the  Little. 
Throughout,  all  the  participants  in  the  game,  bourgeois 
great  and  small,  landed  aristocrat,  peasant,  proletarian, 
are  assumed  to  be  acting  in  furtherance  of  their  material 
interest.  Discussing  the  struggle  between  Legitimists  and 
Orltanists,  Marx  points  out  that  "what  kept  these  two  fac- 
tions apart  was  no  so-called  set  of  principles,  it  was  their 
material  conditions  of  Ufe  —  two  different  sorts  of  pro- 
perty; it  was  .  .  .  the  old  rivalry  between  canital  and 
landed  property."  He  goes  on  to  make  clear  i  lat  lim- 
ited sense  he  admits  the  influence  of  ideal  motives:  "That 
simultaneously  old  recollections;  personal  animosities, 
fears,  and  hopes;  prejudices  and  illusions;  sympathies  and 
antipathies;  convictions,  faith,  and  principles  bound  these 
factions  to  one  House  or  the  other,  who  denies  it?  Upon 
the  several  forms  of  property,  upon  the  social  conditions  of 
existence,  a  whole  superstnictu'-o  is  reared  of  various  and 
peculiarly  shaped  feelings,  illusior..^,  habits  of  thought,  and 
conceptions  of  life.  The  whole  class  pre  luces  and  shapes 
these  out  of  its  material  foundation  and  out  of  the  corre- 
sponding social  conditions.  The  individual  unit  to  whom 
they  flow  through  tradition  and  education,  may  fancy  that 


;  i 


*  Theoretical  System  of  Karl  Marx,  p.  37.  The  distinction  which  Boudin, 
following  Kautsky,  makes  on  the  same  page,  between  "material  condi- 
tions" and  "material  interests"  is  a  not  quite  conscious  recognition  of  the 
distinction  maintained  above  between  the  two  versions  of  the  theory. 


J 


,•131 
lis 


IIU 


SOCIALISM 


»     ^ 


R 


they  constitute  the  true  reasons  for  and  premises  of  his  con- 
duct." *  Clearly,  Marx  recognizes  the  existence  of  ideal  or 
rather  ideological  motives,  but  recognizes  them  only  as  the 
intermediate  outcome  of  material  class  interest  and  as 
invariably  impelling  the  actor  in  the  direction  which  that 
material  interest  determines. 

So  far  as  economic  conditions  have  shaped  history  — 
and  their  importance  is  undeniable  —  it  is  impossible  to 
show  that  that  influence  has  been  exerted  only  through  the 
medium  of  class  struggle.  Marx's  emphasis  on  the  class 
struggle,  hailed  by  his  followers  as  the  most  important  con- 
tribution to  social  theory  made  by  scientific  socialism,  was 
in  reality  not  a  scientific  deduction  from  facts  but  a  survival 
of  a  priori  metaphysics.  His  mind  was  so  obsessed  by  He- 
gelian convictions  of  the  dialectic  character  of  mankind's 
development  that  he  tried  to  fit  the  facts  to  the  formula, 
and  consequently  for  him  class  struggle  monopolized  the 
whole  economic  stage.  Just  as  the  economic  field  is  not  as 
■wide  as  human  life,  so  within  this  field  class  struggle  is  not 
the  sole  form  in  which  the  influence  of  economic  conditions 
is  exerted.  The  illustrations  cited  in  connection  with  the 
first  version  of  the  doctrine  are  suflScient  cidence.  What 
has  class  struggle  to  do  with  Engels'  interpretation  of  Cal- 
vinism, or  Kautsky's  explanation  of  the  tendencies  of  early 
Christianity,  or  Seligman's  comment  on  the  connection 
of  pastoral  life  and  the  virtue  of  hospitality?  Economic 
forces  do  not  work  on  men  solely  as  units  of  classes  but  on 
men  as  members  of  the  whole  social  group,  as  members  of  a 
pastoral  tribe  or  of  a  highly  organized  community.  In  great 
part  men  share  in  common  the  influences  of  their  economic 
environment.  It  is  only  within  a  limited  portion  of  the 
economic  field,  where  interests  conflict,  that  the  economic 
factor  can  be  said  to  spell  divergence  of  class  interest. 

Within  th's  limited  sphere,  again,  it  is  by  no  means  in- 

'  The  Eighteenth  BrnmaiTe  of  Louis  Napoleon,  translated  by  De  Leon, 
p.  24. 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


111 


evitable  that  divergence  of  class  interest  will  entail  class 
struggle.  Here  Marx  is  influenced  by  the  very  theory  of 
the  determining  part  played  by  the  intellect  in  men's  af- 
fairs against  which  he  is  contending.  He  assumes  that 
because  the  material  interests  of  a  class  would  lead  them, 
if  they  were  rationally  to  follow  their  interest,  to  struggle 
against  another  class,  that  outcome  will  inevitably  result. 
A  conclusion  more  in  harmony  with  the  realities  of  group 
psychology  is  that  ciiitained  in  Professor  Veblen's  com- 
ment on  the  Marxian  position:  "Under  the  Darwinian 
norm  it  must  be  held  that  men's  reasoning  is  largely  con- 
trolled by  other  than  logical  or  intellectual  forces;  that  the 
conclusion  reached  by  public  or  class  opinion  is  as  much,  or 
more,  a  matter  of  sentiment  than  of  logical  inference;  and 
that  the  sentiment  which  animates  men,  singly  or  collect- 
ively, is  as  much,  or  more,  an  outcome  of  habit  or  native 
propensity  than  of  calculated  material  interest.  There  is,  for 
instance,  no  warrant  in  the  Darwinian  scheme  oi  things  for 
asserting  a  priori  that  the  class  interest  of  the  working 
class  will  bring  them  to  take  a  stand  against  the  proj.ertied 
class."  ^  For  proof,  listen  to  any  socialist  denunciation  of 
the  folly  of  the  American  workingman  in  casting  a  vote 
for  the  "Republican  or  big-business"  candidate,  or  for  the 
"Democratic  or  little-business"  candidate,  or  witness  how 
the  majority  of  British  vorkingmen  threw  np  their  caps  for 
the  war  against  the  Boers  and  the  majority  of  American 
workingmen  sympathized  with  Philippine  expansion  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  imperialism  has  time  and  again  meant 
a  halt  in  social  reform  and  certainly  has  brought  little  com- 
pensating gain  to  the  maflScking  workingman.  Equally 
with  jingoism,  professional  baseball  or  football,  betting, 
vaudeville,  or  murder  trials  may  absorb  the  interest  and 
energy  that  in  the  socialist  scheme  of  things  are  pre- 
destined for  the  Revolution.  The  Marxian  sociaHst  will  tell 
you  that  the  trouble  with  these  unenlightened  specimens 
'  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  xxi,  p.  308. 


112 


SOCIAUSM 


of  the  proletariat  is  that  they  are  not  yet  "class  conscious.** 
The  point  is  that  there  is  no  conclusive  evidence  that  they 
are  ever  going  to  become  class  conscious.' 

Yet  when  all  qualifications  are  made,  class  struggles  for 
economic  advantage  are  a  grim  reality.  Only  a  blind  opti- 
mism can  deny  the  reality  of  divergence  of  econom?c  inter- 
est and  the  reality  of  the  conflict  which  sometimes  results. 
Only  a  blind  prejudice,  however,  can  lead  to  the  further 
sweeping  generalization  that  to-day  only  two  classes  hold 
the  field,  bourgeoisie  and  proletariat,  and  that  in  their  ir- 
reconcilable conflict  lie  the  motor  forces  of  future  develop- 
ment.'^ Men's  economic  interests  are  rarely  single;  in  the 
complexity  of  modem  industrial  society  their  relations  are 
not  confined  to  a  single  other  group;  they  cannot  be  classi- 
fied solely  from  one  viewpoint.  The  strata  are  many,  the 
cross-sections  innumerable.  Geographical  division,  occupa- 
tional interest,  color  and  racial  diflferences  cut  athwart  the 
symmetrical  lines  of  the  class-struggle  theorist.  Not  merely 
do  the  interests  of  workmen  and  employer  diverge,  so  far 

•  Kautsky,  angered  at  the  failure  of  the  English  working  classes  to  play 
the  rcvolutiont-ry  part  cast  for  them  by  lV:arx,  bursts  out:  "Their  highest 
ideal  consists  in  aping  their  masters  and  in  maintaining  their  hypocritical 
respectability,  their  admiration  for  wealth,  however  it  may  be  obtained, 
and  their  spiritless  manner  of  killing  their  leisure  time.  The  emancipation 
of  their  class  appears  to  them  as  a  foolish  dream.  Consequently  it  is  foot- 
ball, boxing,  horse-racing,  and  opportunities  for  gambling  which  move 
them  the  deepest  and  to  which  their  entire  leisure  time,  their  individual 
powers,  and  their  material  means  are  devoted."  —  The  Social  Revolution, 
pp.  101-102. 

'  "Certainly  the  two  great  classes  correspond  to  the  Hegelian  negation 
of  negation,  but  this  negation  of  negation  does  not  correspond  to  reality." 
—  Masaryk,  op.  cit.,  p.  172. 

Marx  recognized  the  existence  of  more  than  two  classes  in  contempo- 
rary society ;  no  fewer  than  five  are  enumerated  in  the  Eighteenth  Brumaire 
(peasants,  petty  bourgeoisie,  landed  aristocracy,  capitalist  bourgeoisie, 
and  proletariat)  and  eight  in  Retolution  and  CounteT-Rcvohdion  in  Ger- 
many. Yet  these  are  only  minor  and  temporary  (li\-isioPs;  "Society  as  a 
whole  is  more  and  more  splitting  up  into  two  great  hostile  camps,  into  two 
great  classes  directly  facing  each  other:  Bourgeoisie  and  Proletariat." — 
Communist  Manifesto,  p.  13. 


m 


^Kim^m^^ 


THE  MABXIAN  ANALYSIS 


lis 


as  the  sharing  of  the  product  goes,  but  the  German  agrarian 
struggles  against  the  manufacturer,  the  small  shopkeeper 
against  the  great  department  store,  the  independent  manu- 
facturer against  the  trust,  the  white  bricklayer  or  fireman 
against  the  negro,  the  American  trade  unionist  against  the 
immigrant,  carpenters'  against  woodworkers'  union  in 
jurisdictional  disputes.  Employers  and  employed  unite  in 
a  closed  shop,  closed-masters'  agreement  to  prey  on  the  con- 
suming pubUc;  trade  unions  back  trusts'  demands  for  more 
room  at  the  tariflF  trough.  The  joint-stock  company  opens 
all  fields  to  investment  by  all  classes;  the  workingman  be- 
comes his  own  landlord:  economic  categories  less  and  less 
coincide  with  definite  and  unchanging  bodies  of  individu- 
als. And  still  the  socialist  mumbles  his  sacred  formula  of 
bourgeois  and  proletarian,  proletarian  and  bourgeois. 

One  ray  of  Ught  pierces  the  gloom  of  the  class-struggle 
doctrine.  The  present  conflict  is  to  be  the  last;  the  victori- 
ous proletariat  will  have  no  inferior  to  oppress,  and  will 
usher  in  a  classless  commonwealth,  where  the  wicked  will 
cease  from  troubling  and  the  fighters  be  at  rest.  This  es- 
chatological  side  of  the  Marxian  theory  is,  in  all  probability, 
not  so  much  a  theological  echo  as  yet  another  illustration 
of  Hegelian  influence,  the  final  cessation  of  class  struggle 
being  a  deduction  from  the  Hegelian  postulate  of  the  final 
reconcilement  of  the  dialectic  conflict  in  the  attainment  of 
an  absolute  synthesis.  Only  the  teleological  optimism  of  the 
Hegelian  formula  can  explain  Marx's  assumption  that 
the  clash  of  classes  would  lead,  not  to  chaos  and  relapse  to 
lower  levels,  as  has  happened  before  in  the  worid's  history, 
but  to  the  triumph  of  the  oppressed  and  living  happy  ever 
after  in  a  classless  Eden.  It  is,  further,  a  curious  attitude 
to  be  taken  by  a  theorist  who  has  found  in  cla;:.  struggle  the 
source  of  all  progress  in  the  past.  If  the  prophet  speaks 
truly,  we  are  heading  for  a  stereotyped  state.  Harmony 
plus  stagnation  is  hardly  an  ideal  which  will  win  wide  fa .  or. 
Upheld  by  the  party  of  revolution  it  is  the  height  of  paradox. 


114 


SOCIALISM 


To  sum  up  this  criticism:  economic  factors  are  not  the 
sole  or  ultimate  forces  in  human  pro<»ress;  where  economic 
forces  are  operative,  they  do  not  necessarily  imply  a  con- 
flict of  interest;  where  a  conflict  of  interest  does  exist,  it 
does  not  follow  that  men  will  inevitably  be  guided  by  their 
interest;  so  far  as  conflict  of  interest  does  determine  action, 
it  is  a  conflict  not  solely  between  the  interests  of  two  clear- 
cut  and  irreconcilably  opposed  classes,  but  between  count- 
less Protean  groups,  with  the  lines  of  division  in  one  rela- 
tion cutting  athwart  the  Unes  of  another,  and  making  the 
opponents  of  yesterday  the  allies  of  to-day;  so  far,  finally, 
as  class  struggle  is  held  to  be  a  condition  of  progress,  it  can 
cease  only  at  peril  of  stagnation.  The  materialistic  concep- 
tion of  history  is  based,  not  on  an  objective  cause-and- 
effect  study  of  actual  industrial  development,  but  on  a  phil- 
osopher's formula.  The  rooting  of  progress  in  class  strug- 
gle, the  expectation  of  the  ultimate  syntiiesis  in  the  class- 
less collect! vist  commonwealth,  the  faihu-e  to  offer  any 
adequate  explanation  of  the  causes  of  Lhose  changes  in  the 
economic  foundations  of  society  whi^h  result  in  changes  in 
the  superstructure,  all  reveal  the  preconception  that  social 
development  is  to  proceed  by  immanent  necessity  on  the 
lines  of  HegeUan  dialectic.  Since  Darwin's  day  we  have 
attained  an  entirely  different  conception  of  development, 
and  the  Marxian  theory  of  progress  is  left  without  a  credible 
intellectual  basis. 


I  i- 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS:  II.  VALUE  AND  SURPLUS  VALUE 


Having  discovered  in  the  materialistic  conception  of  his- 
tory a  key  to  all  human  achievement,  Marx  proceeds  to  use 
it  to  unlock  the  secrets  of  the  present  epoch,  to  disclose  the 
essential  nature  and  trend  of  capitalistic  production.  To- 
day the  class  struggle  takes  the  form  of  contest  between 
bourgeoisie  and  proletariat,  exploiter  and  exploited.  Marx 's 
first  problem,  therefore,  is  to  explain  the  mechanism  of  pre- 
sent-day exploitation.  His  explanation  takes  the  form  of 
the  theory  of  surplus  value,*  which,  again,  rests  on  a  theory 
of  value.  Since  the  distinctive  feature  of  'capitalism  is  the 
making  of  commodities  for  sale  in  the  market,  an  analysis 
of  its  working  should  begin  with  a  theory  of  market  price. 
"In  the  bourgeois  society  the  commodity  form  of  the  pro- 
duct of  labor  —  or  the  value  form  of  the  commodity  —  is 
the  economic  cell-form."  "  With  the  study  of  the  cell  all 
scientific  investigation  of  the  body  politic  must  begin. 

The  theory  of  value  which  Marx  presents  is  a  variation 
of  the  famiUar  labor-value  doctrine.  The  view  that  labor 
is  the  source  of  value,  rising  naturally  in  an  age  when 
handicraft  predominated,  was  given  wavering  but  author- 
itative support  by  Adam  Smith,  and  adopted,  with,  how- 
ever, essential  modification,  in  the  classic  treatise  of  Ricardo. 
The  supposed  logical  deductions  from  the  theory  were  soon 
drawn  by  socialist  writers  in  many  quarters;  Bray  and 

»  "These  two  great  discoveries,  the  materialistic  conception  of  history 
and  the  revelation  of  the  secret  of  capitalistic  production,  we  owe  to  Marx. 
With  these  discoveries  Sociulisro  became  a  science."— Engels,  Socialism, 
Utopian  and  Scientific,  p.  44. 

*  Capital,  i,  p.  z. 


110 


SOCULISM 


^i 


Thompson  and '"lIodRskin  in  Enslnnd.  Proudhon  and,  to 
some  extent,  Sismondi  in  Franct-,  and  Rocllwrtus  in  Ger- 
many dotted  what  they  thought  were  Ilicardo's  j's  and 
crossed  what  they  thought  were  Ricardo's  fa  by  concluding 
that  if  "  labor  "  were  the  sole  source  of  vjdue.the  "lalH)rer  " 
was  entitled  to  the  full  produce  of  his  labor,  and  the  cap- 
italist secured  a  share  only  by  robbery.'  The  theory  was 
obviously  adapted  to  anti-capitalist  criticism,  and  Marx 
adopted  it  accordingly,  in  an  amended  version,  with  that 
characteristic  uncritical  acceptance  of  fundamentals  which 
contrasts  so  strangely  with  his  hypercritical  subtlety  on 
minor  details. 

Marx  begins  his  demonstration  by  declaring  that  the 
fact  that  commodities  are  exchanged  evidences  an  equival- 
ence of  a  third  "something"  possessed  in  common.  This 
common  quality  cannot  be  a  use-value,  since  exchange  is 
an  act  characterized  by  a  total  abstraction  from  use- value; 
one  use-value  is  just  as  good  as  another.  There  is  only  one 
common  property  left,  that  of  l)eing  products  of  labor.  The 
magnitude  of  value  contained  in  a  commodity  is  measured 
by  the  quantity  of  abstract  human  labor  embodied,  and 
this  quantity  again  is  measured  by  the  duration  of  the 
effort.   Having  stated  this  broad  proposition,  Marx  imme- 
diately begins  a  series  of  important  qualifications.   In  the 
first  place,  the  labor  which  forms  the  substance  of  value  is 
not  the  actual  effort  put  forth  by  any  specific  individual, 
but  a  homogeneous  funded  quantity,  socially  necessary 

'  No  careful  student  of  Ricardo  could  hold;hiin  guilty  of  the  crude  the- 
ory, so  frequently  fathered  upon  him  and  gaining  respectability  from  the 
parentage,  that  lalwr  is  the  sole  sourw?  of  value.  "Uhen  Rica'rdo  speaks 
of  labor  as  regulating  value  in  the  long  run  by  means  of  competition, 
[modem  socialistic  schools]  interpret  him  as  attributing  to  labor  the  power 
of  cTeating  value.  AMien  he  speaks  of  labor  with  a  capital,  including  under 
It  the  exertion  of  capital,  they  speak  of  labor  with  a  small  initial,  meaning 
plain  toil,  often  plain  manual  toil."  (Conner's  Ricardo,  Introductory 
hssay.  p.  Iviii.)  (7.  the  illuminating  chapter  on  Ricardo  in  Davenport's 
I  able  and  Di.siribution,  for  an  expo.sition  of  the  merely  regulative  and  pro- 
port'.oning  function  assigned  labor  in  his  theory. 


THE  MAEXIAN  ANALYSIS 


117 


labor,  the  labor  required  under  normal  conditions  of  skill, 
intensity,  and  up-to-date  appliances.  The  unit  in  Ihia 
homogeneous  fund  is  a  quantum  of  unskilled  labor,  simple 
average  labor,  the  labor-ixiwer  which,  on  the  average, 
apart  from  any  si)ecial  development,  exists  in  the  organism 
of  every  ordinary  individual.  Skilled  lal)or  counts  oidy  as 
multiplied  simple  lalior,  the  pro|H)rtion  In-ing  fixed  "by  a 
social  process  that  goes  on  Ijchind  the  backs  of  the  pro- 
ducers." • 

Next  Marx  brings  in  by  a  side  door  the  factor  of  utility 
previously  disregarded.  "Nothing  can  have  value,"  he 
declares,  "without  being  an  object  of  utility.  If  the  thing 
is  useleyi,  so  is  the  labor  contained  in  it:  the  labor  does  not 
count  as  labor,  and  therefore  creates  no  value."*  This 
qualification  is  amplified  later.  "Suppose,"  the  argument 
runs,  "that  every  [)iece  of  linen  in  the  market  contains  no 
more  labor-time  than  is  socially  necessary.  In  spite  of  this, 
all  those  pieces,  taken  as  a  whole,  may  have  had  superflu- 
ous labor-time  sr)ent  upon  them.  If  the  market  cannot 
stomach  the  whole  quantity  at  the  normal  price  of  two 
shillings  a  yard,  this  proves  that  too  great  a  portion  of  the 
total  labor  of  the  community  has  been  expended  in  the 
form  of  weaving.  All  the  linen  in  the  market  counts  but 
as  one  article  of  commerce,  of  which  each  piece  is  only 
an  aliquot  part.  And  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  value  also 
of  each  single  yard  is  but  the  materialized  form  of  the 
same  definite  and  socially  iixed  quantity  of  homogeneous 
human  labor."* 

Such  in  broad  outline  is  Marx's  labor  theory  of  value,  as 
developed  in  the  opening  chapters  of  the  first  volume  of 
"Capital."  Marx  begins  his  search  for  the  common  quality 
which  is  the  cause  of  values  by  carefully  putting  into  the 
sieve,  as  Bcihm-Bawerk  expresses  it  in  his  classic  analysis, 
only  "those  exchangeable  things  which  contain  the  pro- 
perty which  he  desires  finally  to  sift  out  as  a  common  fac- 

»  Capital,  i.  pp.  8-7.  «  Ibid.,  p.  5.  '  Ibid.,  p.  50. 


118 


SOCIALISM 


.^f  ''>. 


4  -i 


-■'I 


tor.  ...  He  acta  as  one  who.  urgently  desiring  to  bring  a 
white  ball  out  of  the  urn,  takes  care  to  secure  this  result  by 
putting  in  white  balls  only."  •  That  is,  he  limits  his  inquiry 
to  the  value  of  "commodities,"  and  adopts,  without  ex- 
plicit warning,  a  definition  of  commodities  which  includes 
only  products  of  labor,  and  excludes  "virgin  soil,  natural 
meadows,  etc."*  Having  thus  made  sure  that  the  emlxxli- 
ment  of  labor  will  be  one  proi)erty  common  to  all  good.s, 
Marx  proceeds  to  prove  that  it  is  the  property  sought  by  the 
method  of  exclusion,  examining  and  find'  i  wanting  all 
other  common  pro{)erties  —  a  dangerous  ^  .thod  of  proof 
dejiending  for  its  validity  on  the  assurance  that  every  pos- 
sible common  quality  has  been  passed  in  review.  Only  one 
other  common  quality  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  considered  — 
the  possession  of  use-value,  and  this,  as  noted  rbove,  is 
rejected  on  the  ground  that  one  use-value  is  as  good  as  an- 
other. Here  Marx  assumes  that  because  in  exchange  it  is 
i.D  material  what  species  of  use- value  a  good  possesses,  it  is 
therefore  legitimate  to  discard  use-value  altogether  as  not 
being  the  common  qi"lity  sought,  confusing  the  abstrac- 
tion from  the  sf>ecific  i  jrm  of  use- value  with  an  abstraction 
from  use-value  in  general. 

T'o  meet  the  obvious  objection  to  a  labor-value  theory 
that  goods  embodying  very  different  amouiiis  of  labor  sell 
at  the  same  price,  Marx  has  recourse  to  his  favorite  expedi- 
ent of  averaging,  normalizing,  so  as  to  blot  out  all  these 
individual  variations.'  The  "total  labor  power  of  society" 
is  conceived  of  as  a  fund  of  homogeneous  units.  The  dura- 
tion of  the  exertion  required  to  produce  a  given  commodity 
by  one  of  these  homogeneous  units  is  considered  to  be  the 
socially  necessary  labor-time.  Marx's  interpretation  of  the 
"  normal  conditions  "  which  determine  what  time  is  socially 

'  Karl  Marx  and  the  Clo»e  of  his  Syttem,  p.  134. 

'  Capital,  i,  p.  5. 

•  "  Marx  eliminatps  by  processes  of  averading  precisely  those  variations 
which  form  the  subject  of  investigation.  The  reasoning  thus  turns  in  a 
circle."  —  Pareto,  Lea  Systcmca  Bocialistes,  ii,  p.  364. 


THE  MARXLVN  AN^VLYSIS 


lis 


i 


necessary  is  characteristically  wavering:  it  is  almost  as  dif- 
ficult to  determine  whut  he  understands  by  **  norniui  "  ns 
what  Maishull  means  by  "representative."  It  might  liecon- 
tended  that  normal  ••••  s<Kially  necessarj'  means  average, 
and  there  is  authority  in  Marx  for  this  stutcment:  "No 
more  time  than  is  needed  on  an  average,  no  more  than  is 
socially  necessary,"  '  It  might  l>e  contended  that  it  means 
minimum,  that  the  product  of  the  obsolete  machine  or 
the  antiquated  process  is  not  to  be  counted  m  the  total 
averaged,  and  for  this  version  there  is  also  authority  in 
Marx:  "It  is  important  to  insist  u|)on  this  point,  that  what 
determines  value  is  .  .  .  the  minimum  time  in  which  it  is 
susceptible  of  being  produced." "  It  might  be  contended 
that  socially  necessary  means  maximum,  and  for  this  ver- 
sion there  is  also  authority  in  Marx :  the  price  of  agricul- 
tural produce,  which  is  specifically  included  in  the  section 
under  discussion  in  the  conmiwlitics  obeying  this  law,  is 
stated  later  to  lie  regulated  by  ihe  worst  soils.' 

The  importance  of  the  factor  of  utility  in  fletcrmining 
value  is  admitted  only  grudgingly  and  imperfectly.  Grudg- 
ingly, for  while  it  is  granted  that  labor  directed  to  the  pro- 
duction of  a  useless  article  will  not  create  value,  the  at- 
tempt is  made  to  maintain  a  formal  consistency  with  the 
doctrine  of  the  sole  ethcacy  of  labor  :n  determining  value, 
by  asserting  that  labor  is  not  labor  except  when  applied  to 
making  a  useful  object,  in  the  quantity  required  by  society. 
This  is  as  though  one  should  assert  tliat  the  air  is  the  sole 
factor  in  the  growth  of  a  tree,  and  afterwards  hedge  by  ex- 
plaining that  air  is  not  air  unless  certain  conditions  of  soil 
and  sunshine  l)e  present.  Instead  of  stretching  the  term 
"labor"  to  include  conceptions  altogether  foreign  to  it, 
bringing  in  the  factor  of  utility  merely  as  a  qualifying  force 

'  Capital,  i,  p.  4. 

»  Poverty  of  PhUoimphy.  translated  by  Quclch.  p.  39;  and  cf.  the  ex- 
ample immediately  following  the  previous  quotation. 
•  CapiUil.  iii.  chap.  39. 


120 


SOCLVLISM 


,h    '■- 


in  establishing  the  presence  of  labor,  the  franker  course 
would  have  been  to  recognize  the  independent  action  of  this 
indispensable  factor.     The   danger   involved   in    Marx's 
course  is  that  after  the  term  labor  has  been  thus  tortuously 
qualified  and  interpreted  to  give  it  plausibility,  it  will  be 
applied  in  its  naive,  unqua'ified  sense.   In  this  subordina- 
tion of  utility,  this  attempt  to  discover  value  in  producers' 
efiFort,  to  the  virtual  exclusion  of  consumers'  estimate, 
Marx  is  at  one  with  the  English  classical  school,  even  going 
beyond  them  in  his  assumption  of  men  as  economic  auto- 
matons, an('  his  disregard  of  that  psychological  analysis 
which  has  been  so  fruitfully  developed  by  later  American 
and  Austrian  economists.    The  recognition  of  the  import- 
ance of  the  factor  of  utility,  further,  is  imperfe  t,  for  the 
assertion  is  made  that  things  which  do  not  owe  their  util- 
ity to  labor  have  no  value:   "such  are  air,  virgin  soil, 
natural  meadows,"  i  and  the  influence  of  utility  in  deter- 
mining the  proportion  between  skilled  and  unskilled  labor 
1.S  not  explicitly  recognized.  Skilled  labor  counts  as  so  many 
units  of  unskilled  labor,  the  exact  proportion  being  fixed  by 
"a  social  process  that  goes  on  behind  the  backs  of  the  nro- 
ducers."  That  is,  the  problem  is  to  determine  how  the  re- 
lations are  established  which  result  in  value,  and  the  na!ve 
answer  is  made  that  they  are  established  by  market  valua- 
tion.2   It  is  obvious  that  the  proportion  cannot  be  fixed 

»  Capital,  i.  p.  5.  In  this  contention,  Murx  agrees  with  Podbertus. 
Later  he  attribut,..s  to  them  a  price,  equivalent  to  the  capitalization  of  the 
landlord  s  share  of  surplus  value:  however,  "even  in  a  communistic  econ- 
omy, where  no  exchange  existed,  value  would  necessarily  be  attributed  to 
such  useful  things,  because  the  degree  of  human  well-being  attainable  is 
dependent  on  tLe  disposition  of  every  part  of  those  goods."  (Komorzyn- 
ski  "Der  dritte  Band  von  Carl  Marx,  'Das  Capital,'"  in  ZeiUchrifl  fur 
yoU.timsae.isch't,  Social politik;  unci  Vericalliing,  vi,  p.  258.) 

«  An  American  orthodox  Marxist  defends  this  position  by  makmg  the 
difference  between  different  kinds  of  labor  explicitly  only  a  quantitative 
one:  "A  :,kille<l  laborer  produces  in  a  given  space  of  time  more  than  the 
unskiUwl  one.  The  va'ue  of  a  commodity  being  equal  to  the  labor  which 
It  would  cost  to  produce  it,  the  value  of  the  commodity  will,  in  accordaace 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


121 


H 


a' 


without  a  knowledge  of  the  relative  utility  of  the  products 
of  the  respective  workers. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  pursue  further  a  detailed  examina- 
tion of  Marx's  contentions  in  these  introductory  chapters 
of  "Capital  "  T'>c  attempt  to  derive  value  entirely  from 
cost,  with  or.  .V  an  iiullr^ot  ind  limited  recognition  of  util- 
ity, is  as  futii  as  the  reverse  endeavor  in  many  current  ver- 
sions of  the  fi  ,inal  utility  d^c^nne.  Throughout,  Marx 
looks  on  value  as.  a  M^aHty  Laat  can  be  carried  forward  in 
production  and  conferred  on  the  product.  Neither  labor 
nor  capital,  nor  both  in  conjunction,  can  do  more  than  pro- 
duce commodities,  give  new  forms  and  combinations  to  the 
material  with  which  they  deal.  Whether  these  commod- 
ities will  have  value  when  produced  depends  in  determin- 
ing degree  on  the  relation  they  bear  to  the  needs  and  de- 
sires of  prospective  purchasers.  "Value  grows,"  declares 
Bohm-Bawerk  in  a  notable  passage,  "not  out  of  the  past 
of  goods  but  ut  of  their  future.  .  .  .  Value  cannot  be 
forged  like  a  hammer,  nor  woven  like  a  sheet.  .  .  .  What 
production  can  do  is  never  anything  more  than  to  create 
goods,  in  the  hope  that,  according  to  the  anticipated  rela- 
tions of  demand  and  supply,  they  will  obtain  value."  > 
Much  less  is  it  possible  to  attribute  to  labor  alone  amony 
factors  of  production  sole  value-creating  efficacy  —  the 
fallacy  on  which,  as  will  be  seen  presently,  the  doctrine  of 
surplus  value  is  basec'. 

The  theory  that  labor  is  the  source  of  value  finds  few 
defendants  to-day.  In  the  face  of  the  overwhelming  criti- 

with  the  laws  of  value  already  explained  by  08,1)6  the  amount  of  ordbary 
average  labor  necessary  for  its  reproduction.  For  it  is  by  this  labor  that 
society  will  have  to  reproduce  it,  the  amount  of  skilled  labor  being  by 
its  very  terms  limited."  —  Boudin.  Theoretical  System  of  Karl  Marx,  p.  1 16. 
That  is,  it  will  take  perhaps  as  many  as  half  a  dozen  hodmen  to  repro- 
duce Michael  Angelo's  David,  or,  to  take  a  perhaps  fairer  example,  half 
a  dozen  roustabouts  to  do  the  work  of  a  skilled  jeweler.  There  are  surely 
qualitative  as  well  as  quantitative  differences. 
, «  B5hm-Bawerk,;Capi<aZ  and  Interest,  translated  by  Smart,  pp,  184-135. 


if 


I 


1S2 


y-- 


5^*    '  'I 


1'^ 


1 


SOCIALISM 


cism  which  has  been  directed  against  it,  even  good  Marx- 
ists are  being  forced  to  abandon  it  or  to  explain  it  away.  It 
is  not  an  explanation  of  the  facts  of  the  existing  industrial 
system,  Engels  declares,  but  holds  good  as  an  analysis 
cf  value  in  the  more  primitive  industrial  organization  of 
the  pre-capitalist  era.^  —  a  contention  which  is  consi    ent 
neither  with  the  degree  of  competition  that  then  existed, 
leadmg  to  the  same  equahzing  of  profit  which  bedevils  the 
theory  in  the  present  epoch,^  nor  with  the  feudal  and  gild 
restrictions  which  equally  prevented  the  exchange  of  goods 
m  accordance  with  the  labor-time  expended,"  and  which 
fails  to  account  for  the  stress  laid  on  the  theory  in  a  work 
avowedly  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  capitalist  era.    A 
later  disciple  avers  it  will  prove  true  in  the  socialist  system 
Cx  the  future.    "So  long  as  capitalist  production  lasts,  the 
law  of  value  cannot  express  itself  normally,  .  .  .  only 
under  a  socialist  system  of  production  can  the  Marxian 
theory  of  value  be  consistently  applied  and  used  as  a  regu- 
lator of  collective  production."  "  Sonibart  comes  to  the  res- 
cue, after  an  admission  that  if  Marx's  theory  is  an  attempt 
to  explain  the  actual  facts  of  market  value  it  utterly  fails 
in  its  purpose,  h    suggesting  that  the  theory  is  merely  a 
Kantian  "regulative  principle."  Sombart  finds  "refuge  for 
this  harried  value  concept"  neither  in  Engels'  fifteenth 
century  nor  in  Untermann's  twenty-fifth,  but  in  a  still  less 
substantial  field  -  "the  thought  of  the  theoretical  econo- 
mist." "In  fact,  if  one  must  have  an  epigrammatic  charac- 
terization of  Marx's  value  concept,  it  is  this  —  value  is  to 
him  not  a  fact  of  experience  but  a  fact  of  thought. 
The  concept  of  value  is  an  instrument  of  thought,  whiih 
we  utilize  to  make  intelligible  the  phenomena  of  economic 

>  Engels    /),«  \eue  Zeif.   18!)5.  Ergiinzung  und  Sachtrag  zum  driiten 
Buch  de-H     kapital    ■  cf.    Marx,  Capital,  iii,  pp.  207-08. 

^  Komorzynski,  I.  c,  p.  285. 

'  Cf  Bern.stein.  Voraussetzungen  des  Sozialismus.  translated  by  Harvey 
as  Lvolutionary  Socialism,  p.  SO. 

*  Untermann,  Marxian  Economics,  p.  226. 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


123 


activity;  it  is  a  fact  of  logic."  '  Or,  finally,  there  is  the  sour- 
grapt"  verdict  that  it  does  not  matter  where,  if  anywhere, 
the  t  eory  can  be  substantiated;  Kautsky  declares  that 
"in  reality  the  Marxian  theory  of  value  has  nothing  to  do 
with  socialism.  .  .  .  The  doctrine  of  value  is  not  the 
foundation  of  socialism,  but  the  foundation  of  the  existing; 
capitalist  economy,"  ^  a  verdict  which  curiously  disregards 
the  fact  that  it  is  of  the  essence  of  Marx's  doctrine  to  reveal 
socialism  as  developing  out  of  the  existing  capitalist  order 
by  the  operation  of  the  forces  whose  working  within  its 
bounds  he  has  analyzed.^ 

Underlying  most  of  these  attempts  to  account  for  the 
failure  of  the  labor  theory  to  explain  the  actual  facts  of  ex- 
change relations  is  the  contention  that  it  is  not  designed  to 
explain  them.  This  general  position  may  l)e  best  set  forth 
in  the  exposition  of  Professor  Veblen.  Marx's  critics,  mis- 
led by  their  own  shallowness  or  by  "  a  possibly  intentional 
oracular  obscurity  on  the  part  of  Marx,"  err,  he  declares, 
in  identifying  value  with  exchange  value,  anl  in  showing 
"that  the  theory  of  value  does  not  square  with  the  run  of 
the  facts  of  price  under  the  existing  system  of  distribu- 
tion, piously  hoping  thereby  to  have  refuted  the  M.  rx!  n 
doctrine,  whereas  of  course  they  have  for  the  most  part 
not  touched  it."  Marx's  theory,  Veblen  continues,  does  not 
rest  on  the  playful  mystification  in  the  opening  ch  pters 
which  purports  to  be  a  proof;  it  is  simply  a  deduction  from 
his  Hegelian  postulates.  In  that  system  the  only  substan- 
tial reality  is  the  unfolding  life  of  the  spirit,  a  realit>'  which, 
in  the  neo-Hegelian  variant,  is  translated  into  terms  of  the 
"unfolding  (material)  life  of  man  in  society."  This  life  pro- 
cess is  the  final  standard  in  which  relations  between  goods 

'  Archivfiir  sozialc  Cesetzgcbung  und  l^tatistik,  vil,  p.  574. 

'  Ncuc  Zeit,  iii,  p.  282. 

'  \'ery  iippropriatoly  Crocc  quotes  from  Heine:  "When  He?el  lay  on 
his  dealh-bed  he  declared,  'Only  one  has  understood  nie.'  But  immedi- 
ately after  he  added  irritably,  'And  he  did  not  understand  me  either.' " 
— MaiSrialisme  Flistorique  el  Economic  Marzislc,  p.  221. 


i 


'V;1 


124 


SOCIALISM 


must  be  expressed:  "goods  are  equivalent  ♦'^  one  another 
in  the  proportion  in  which  they  partake  o  ,  substantial 
equality."  Because  of  the  unequal  adjustii.ents  of  the  pre- 
sent distributive  system,  exchange  value  does  not  by  any 
means  coincide  with  real  value;  in  fact,  "Marx's  severest 
stricture  on  the  iniquities  of  the  capitalist  system  is  that 
contamed  by  implication  in  his  development  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  actual  exchange  value  of  goods  system- 
atically diverges  from  their  real  (labor-cost)  value."  ' 

There  is  no  doubt  that  even  in  the  first  volume  of  "Capi- 
tal" Marx  implies  in  several  brief  passages  a  distinction 
between  value  and  price.*  There  is  also  no  doubt  that  the 
tenor  of  the  greater  part  of  the  volume  is  in  the  contrary 
direction.  The  assumption  of  their  identity,  which  has  been 
made  in  the  foregoing  discussion,  is  the  view  which  suggests 
itself  in  almost  every  paragraph  where  value  is  discussed, 
and  is  the  view  which  prevailed  among  both  the  advocates 
and  the  critics  of  Marxism  till  the  publication  of  the  third 
volume.  It  is  difficult  to  read  any  other  meaning  into  such 
declarations  as  that  exchange  value  is  merely  a  "definite 
and  social  manner  of  expressing  the  amount  of  labor  be- 
stowed upon  an  object,"  or  that  price  is  "merely  the  money 
name  of  the  quantity  of  social  value  in  his  commodity,"  or 
into  a  score  of  similar  passages.  Nor  can  Professor  Veblen's 
assumption  be  made  to  square  with  the  qualifications 
which  Marx  makes  in  taking  heed  of  the  demand  side  of 
the  market;  a  value  fixed  by  the  unfolding  life  of  the  spirit 

'  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  xx.  pp.  5S5-587. 

'  Cf.  "The  possibility,  therefore,  of  quantitative  incongruity  between 
price  and  magnitude  of  value,  or  the  deviation  of  the  former  from  the 
latter,  is  inherent  in  the  price  form  itself  " 

"  It  is  true,  commodities  may  be  sold  at  prices  deviating  from  their  val- 
ues; but  these  deviations  are  to  be  considered  as  infractions  of  the  laws  of 
the  exchange  of  commodities,  which  in  its  normal  state  is  an  exchange 
of  equivalents,  consequently  no  method  of  increasing  value." 

"We  have  in  fact  assumed  that  prices  equal  values.  We  shall,  however, 
see  in  Book  in  that  even  in  the  case  of  average  prices  the  assumption  can- 
not he  n\a:\>-  in  this  very  sirrrple  manacr."— i.  c,  pp.  46,  84,  120,  u. 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


U5 


would  be  subject  to  no  abatement  by  reason  of  mere  fluc- 
tuations in  consumers'  tastes  or  inventors'  achievements; 
it  would  be  an  indefeasible  and  abiding  reality,  beyond  the 
influence  of  time  or  tide.  Does  the  yard  of  hand-woven  linen 
any  less  express  the  weaver's  life  process  because  Watt 
invents  a  steam  engine  or  Cartwright  a  power-loom? 
Does  the  skilled  laborer  possess  more  units  of  this  sub- 
stantial reality  than  the  unskilled? 

Nor  does  the  undoubted  fact  that  ii  some  passages  Marx 
indicates  that  value  is  not  exchange  value  settle  the  point. 
For  if  Marx  does  not  consistently  maintain  their  identity, 
heexplicitly  maintains  their  long-term  proportionality.  "  If 
prices  actually  differ  from  values,"  he  declares,  "we  must, 
first  of  all,  reduce  the  former  to  the  latter  —  in  other 
words,  treat  the  difference  as  accidental  in  order  that  the 
phenomena  may  be  observed  in  their  purity.  .  .  .  We 
know,  moreover,  that  their  reduction  is  no  mere  scientific 
process.  The  continual  oscillations  in  prices,  their  rising 
and  falling,  compensate  each  other,  and  reduce  themselves 
to  an  average  price,  which  is  their  hidden  regulator.  It 
forms  the  guiding  star  of  the  merchant  or  the  manufac- 
turer in  every  undertaking  that  requires  time.  He  knows 
that,  when  a  long  period  of  time  is  taken,  commodities  are 
sold  neither  over  nor  under  but  at  their  average  price.  If, 
therefore,  he  thought  about  the  matter  at  all,  he  would 
formulate  the  problem  of  the  formation  of  capital  as  fol- 
lows: How  can  we  account  for  the  origin  of  capital  on  the 
supposition  that  prices  are  regulated  by  the  average  price, 
i.  e.,  ultimately  by  the  value  of  the  com;.iodities?  I  say 
'ultimately,'  because  average  prices  do  not  directly  co- 
incide with  the  values  of  commo<lities  as  Adam  Smith,  Ri- 
cardo,  and  others  believe."  '  So  far  as  the  first  volume  of 
"  Capital "  is  concerned,  therefore,  Marx  cannot  find  escape 
in  the  discrepancy  between  price  and  value.  The  different 
attitude  adopted  in  the  third  volume  will  be  taken  up 
1  Capital,  {.  p.  89,  n. 


18A 


SOCIAUSM 


1', 


'•i 
i 


briefly  below  in  connection  with  the  profit-rate  implications 
of  the  surplus-value  doctrine,  which  must  now  be  consid- 
ered. 

Having  explained  how  the  value  of  commodities  is  regu- 
lated, Marx  proceeds  to  use  this  value  concept  to  illumine 
the  process  of  the  exploitation  of  labor  by  capital.    Our 
friend  Moneybags,  he  puts  it,  takes  advantage  of  labor's 
value-creating  property.     He  finds  the  commodity,  labor- 
power  or  capacity  for  labor,  oflFered  for  sale  on  the  market 
by  the  laborer,  who  is  at  once  free  to  bargain  for  its  sale 
and  without  other  resource  than  the  proceeds  of  this  trans- 
action.   This  commodity  Moneybags  buys  for  a  definite 
period,  paying  for  it  its  full  value,  this  value  being,  as  in  the 
case  of  other  commodities,  determined  by  the  labor-time 
socially  necessary  for  its  production,  and  thus  equivalent 
to  the  value  of  the  means  of  subsistence  for  the  laborer  and 
his  substitutes,  his  children.    The  capitalist  finds  his  pro- 
fit m  the  circumstance  that  labor-power  has  the  peculiarity 
oi  being  a  source  not  only  of  value  but  of  more  value  than 
It  has  itself.  In,  say,  half  a  day,  the  laborer  can  produce 
a  value  equivalent  to  the  cost  of  his  labor-power.    He  has, 
however,  sold  his  whole  working  capacity.  He  is  obliged  to 
continue  working  beyond  this  point  and  in  the  othe'r  half 
day  he  produces  value  for  the  capitahst,  surplus  value  in 
short.  The  value  of  labor-power  and  the  value  of  the  pro- 
duct which  labor  can  be  made  to  yield  are  two  entirely  dif- 
ferent magnitudes;  it  was  this  difference  that  the  capitalist 
had  m  view  in  purchasing  the  labor-power.  Constant  cap- 
ital, that  part  of  capital  invested  in  plant  and  material, 
merely  reproduces  its  own  value  in  the  process  of  manu- 
facture.    Variable  capital,  on  the  contrary,  the  portion 
invested  in  labor-power,  reproduces  its  own  value  and  the 
whole  of  the  surplus  appropriated  by  the  capitalist.   The 
rate  of  surplus  value  is  determined  bv  the  proportion  be- 
tween surplus  value  and  variable  capital,  the  rate  of  profit 
by  the  proportion  between  surplus  value  and  the  total  cap- 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


127 


ital.  The  capitalist  increases  his  surplus  value  by  increas- 
ing either  the  length  of  the  working  day,  the  intensity  of 
labor,  or  the  productiveness  of  labor:  the  records  of  English 
factory  development  are  black  with  evidences  of  all  these 
forms  of  exploitation.' 

The  theory  of  surplus  value  stands  or  falls  with  the  labor 
theory  of  value.  "If  we  compare  the  two  processes  of  pro- 
ducing value  and  of  creating  surplus  value,"  Marx  main- 
tains, 'we  see  that  the  latter  is  nothing  but  the  continua- 
tion of  the  former  beyond  a  certain  point."  ^  The  theory  is 
based  on  the  assumption  that  the  labor  factor  in  produc- 
tion has  the  power,  and  the  sole  power,  to  create  value.  It 
is  open,  therefore,  to  all  the  objections  which  may  be  urged 
against  this  assumption.  It  errs  in  assuming  that  value  is 
a  phenomenon  which  has  its  origin  solely  or  in  determining 
degree  in  the  field  of  production.  It  anticii)ates  later  pro- 
ductivity theories  in  making  the  untenable  assumption 
that  it  is  possible  to  isolate  the  contribution  made  by  one 
of  several  factors  in  production,  either  from  the  technolog- 
ical or  from  the  value  standpoint.  It  errs  consequently  in 
assuming  that  we  can  determine  the  contribution  made  by 
constant  capital  to  the  value  of  the  product,  and  id-mtify 
it  with  the  value  consumed.  Its  assertion  of  the  sole  valid- 
ity of  the  factor  of  labor  in  creating  value  and  surplus 
value  rests  on  no  more  substantial  ground  than  a  philo- 
sophical presumption  of  the  superior  validity  of  personality ; 
as  untenable  as  the  parallel  assumption  of  the  superior  val- 
idity of  Nature  which  lay  behind  the  theory  of  the  Physio- 
crat that  only  the  factor  land  could  create  value.  The  dash 
of  Hegel  has  not  improved  Quesnay.  And  when  Marx 
makes  the  labor  employed  in  the  field  of  production  the 
sole  source  of  surplus  value,  to  the  exclusion  of  labor  en- 
gaged in  commerce,^  he  is  merely  ringing  the  changes  on 
another  outworn  economic  shibboleth,  the  overstressed 
distinction  between  productive  and  unproauctive  labor. 

»  Capital,  i,  oh.tp.  O-ii.  '  Ihui.,  p.  110.  '  Ihid..  ii,  chap.  6. 


;  4 


128 


SOCIALISM 


Why,  further,  should  the  whole  increase  in  the  value  be 
attributed  to  the  workman,  to  "the  actual  producer,  the 
laborer"?  '  One  of  the  most  astounding  gaps  in  the  Marx- 
ian theory  is  the  almost  total  neglect  of  the  function  of  the 
entrepreneur  in  modem  industry,  in  seeking  out  the  op 
portunities  for  development,  in  bringing  together  the  vari- 
ous requisites  of  production,  in  the  directing  of  operations 
and  marketing  the  product.  It  is  beside  the  point  to  reply 
that  much  of  modem  business  enterprise  is  socially  unpro- 
ductive, is  a  mere  Dick  Turpin  redistribution  of  others* 
gains,  for  here  Marx  is  in  the  industrial,  not  the  financial, 
sphere,  dealing  with  the  production  of  goods,  not  of  stocks 
and  bonds,  Marx  persistently  refuses  to  make  any  ade- 
quate allowance  for  entrepreneur  activity  except  as  ex- 
erted to  furthering  the  exploitation  of  the  laborer.*  It  is 
not  necessary  to  believe  in  the  necessary  equivalence,  in  ac- 
tual dynamic  conditions,  of  productive  activity  and  distri- 
butive reward,  or  to  indulge  in  Mallockian  dithyrambs  on 
Ability  with  a  capital  A,  to  find  here  an  error  which  vitiates 
the  whole  Marxian  system.  Marx  has  described  with  elo- 
quent fervor  the  increased  eflSciency  of  collective  action, 

»  Capital,  I.  p.  124. 

•  Marx  endeavors  to  distinguish  between  "the  work  of  control  made 
necessary  by  the  cooix-rative  character  of  the  labor-process"  and  "the 
different  work  of  control  necessitated  by  the  capitalist  character  of  that 
process  and  the  antagonism  of  interests  between  capitalist  and  laborer 
...  a  function  of  exploitation."  —  Capital,  i,  pp.  198-91/.  Cf.  iii,  chap. 
83,  where  Marx  makes  an  interesting  analysis  of  the  relation  between 
profit  and  interest,  concluding  with  the  suggestion  that  the  rise  of  a  sep- 
arate managerial  class  has  made  the  industrial  capitalist  superfluous.  In- 
cidentally a  point  is  raised  which  shows  the  logical  reduction  to  the  absurd 
of  the  doctrine  that  profit  has  its  sole  source  in  exploited  wage-labor. 
"In  one  case  known  to  me,"  Engels  acJs  in  a  note  to  Marx's  text,  "after 
the  crisis  of  1868,  a  bankrupt  manufacturer  became  the  paid  wage-laborer 
of  his  former  employees.  This  factory  was  operated  after  the  bankruptcy 
of  its  owner  by  a  laborers'  cooperative,  and  its  former  owner  was  em- 
ployed as  manager."  —  Ibid.,  p.  456,  n.  By  what  device  of  lengthened 
hours  or  intensified  labor  his  employers  sweated  their  surplus  value  out 
of  "the  paid  wage-laborer,"  its  sole  possible  source,  is  not  stated. 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


129 


— "the  new  power,  namely ,  the  collective  power  of  masses. 
. . .  Just  as  the  offensive  power  of  a  squadron  of  cavalry 
or  the  defensive  pwwer  of  a  regiment  of  infantry  is  essen- 
tially different  from  the  sum  of  the  offensive  or  defens- 
ive powers  of  the  individual  cavalry  or  infantry  soldiers 
taken  separately,  so  the  sum  total  of  the  mechanical  forces 
exerted  by  isolated  workmen  differs  from  the  social  force 
that  is  developed  when  many  hands  take  part  simultane- 
ously in  one  and  the  same  undivided  operation." '  Does  a 
Ney  or  a  Sheridan  count  for  nothing  in  a  cavalry  charge  ? 
Is  "the  offensive  power  of  the  cavalry  charge,"  "the  social 
force"  of  the  group  of  workmen,  a  thing  quite  independent 
of  the  genius  and  the  impelling  pwwer  of  the  leader?  Marx 
is  right  in  recognizing  that  the  force  of  men  in  a  group  is 
quite  other  than  the  sura  of  their  individual  powers;  he  is 
wrong  in  not  seeing  that  the  sura  total  varies  with  every 
leader,  that  the  power  of  each  worker  varies  not  only  with 
his  companions  but  with  his  leaders,  that  a  raw  recruit 
under  Napoleon  the  Great  is  vastly  other  than  the  same 
recruit  under  Napolton  the  Little. 

It  is  important  to  note  that  in  his  recognition  of  the 
new  force  developed  by  collective  action,  Marx,  following 
Proudhon's  lead,^  proceeds  to  outline  what  is  practically 
a  distinct  and  contradictory  theory  of  the  origin  of  profit. 
The  capitalist  pays  the  hundred  men  he  has  hired  "the 
value  of  ion  independent  labor-powers,  but  he  does  not  pay 
for  the  combined  labor-power  of  the  hundred.  Being  inde- 
pendent of  each  other,  the  laborers  are  isolated  persons, 
who  enter  into  relations  with  the  capitalist,  but  not  with 
one  another.  .  .  .  Hence  the  productive  power  developed 
by  the  laborer  when  working  in  cooperation  is  the  pro- 
ductive power  of  capital.  .  .  .  Because  this  power  costs 
capital  nothing,  and  becau!=c,  on  the  other  hand,  the  laborer 

»  CapUal,  i,  pp.  191-195. 

*  Cf.  Leroy-Beaulieu,  Le  Collediviitne,  p.  278;  Marx,  Poverty  of  Philo' 
sophy,  p.  07. 


130 


SOCIAUSM 


i 


himself  does  not  develop  it  before  his  labor  belongs  to  capi- 
tal, it  appears  as  a  power  with  which  capital  is  endowed  by 
Nature  —  a  productive  power  that  is  immanent  in  capital."' 
Virtually.therefore,  surplus  value  is  no  longer  the  difference 
between  the  value  of  the  individual's  maintenance  and  the 
value  of  his  pro<luct,  but  the  difference  between  the  value 
of  the  labor-powers  of  the  separate  individuals  and  the 
value  of  the  combined  lahor-power  of  the  collective  force. 
Obviously  one  or  other  of  these  explanations  of  the  sourc-e 
of  profit  must  be  wrong.  And  not  only  does  Marx  sug- 
gest this  other  source  of  suri)lus  value  ;  he  even  admits 
that  the  new  power  is  the  "  productive  power  of  capi- 
tal," and  therefore,  it  may  be  inferred,  not  a  product  of 
exploitation  of  the  laborers. 

Again,  the  time  element  in  the  productive  process  is 
coolly  disregarded.  "  In  determining  the  value  of  the  yarn," 
Marx  declares,  "...  all  the  special  processes  carried  on 
at  various  times  a'ld  in  different  places,  which  were  neces- 
sf -V,  first  to  produce  the  cotton  and  the  wasted  portion  of 
the  spindle,  and  then  w^ith  the  cotton  and  the  spindle  to 
spm  the  yarn,  may  together  l)e  looked  on  as  different  and 
successive  phases  of  one  and  the  same  process.  The  whole 
of  the  labor  in  the  yarn  is  past  lal)or;  and  it  is  a  matter  of 
no  importance  that  the  operations  necessary  for  the  pro- 
duction of  its  constituent  elements  were  carried  on  at  times 
which,  referred  to  the  present,  are  more  remote  than  the 
final  operation  of  spinning."  ^  It  would  be  equally  a  "mat- 
ter of  no  importance,"  Marx  would  logically  have  to  admit, 
whether  the  workmen  were  paid  at  the  beginning  of  the 
long  process  or  at  the  end. 

Is  it  possible  to  put  the  surplus-value  theory  on  sounder 
foundation  by  maintaining  that  values  are  not  exchange 
Vcilues?  This  query  brings  up  the  often-threshed-out  ques- 
tion of  the  contradiction  between  the  first  and  third  vol- 
umes of  "  Capital,"  which  need  be  only  briefly  touched  on 

»  CupUul.  i,  p.  ll'a.  *  Ibid.,  p.  104. 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


131 


here.  The  d<»<'trine  of  surplus  value,  as  laid  down  in  the 
first  volume,  asserts  that  surplus  value  accrues  only  on  the 
variiihlc  capital,  the  wage  investment.    It  would  follow, 
then,  that  the  rate  of  profit  in  ditierent  industries  would 
vary  with  the  proportion  of  laborers  employed.    But  it  is 
patent  that  this  is  not  the  ca.se:  "every  one  knows  that  a 
cotton  spinner  who,  reckoning  the  iKirct-ntage  on  the  whole 
of  his  applied  capital,  employs  nmch  constant  and  little  va- 
riable capital,  does  not  on  account  of  this  pocket  less  profit 
or  surplus  value  than  the  baker,  who  relatively  sets  in  mo- 
tion much  variable  and  little  constant  capital."  '  The  same 
difficulty  proved  a  stumbling-blcx-k  in  Ro<il)ertus'  labor 
theory  of  value.    Marx  promised  its  solution  in  the  forth- 
coming third  volume.  The  .second  volume, "  Capitalist  Cir- 
culation," a  modernized   Tableau  Economique,  containing 
some  keen  analysis,  much  wearisome  .schola.stic  repetition 
and  arithmetical  calculation,  and  little  of  the  fire  and  heat 
that  make  the  first  volume  a  living  force,  apjieared  under 
Engels'  editorship  in  1885,  two  years  after  Marx'.s  death. 
In  the  preface  Engels  challenged  those  who  had  been  de- 
preciating Marx's  work  in  comparison  with  Rodbertus' 
theories,  to  demonstrate  what  the  economics  of  Rodbertus 
could  accomplish,  to  "show  in  what  way  an  equal  average 
rate  of  profit  can  and  must  come  about,  not  only  without 
a  violation  of  the  law  of  value,  but  by  means  of  it."  *  The 
third  volume  did  not  appear  until  1894,  twenty-seven  years 
after  the  publication  of  the  first,  although  the  greater  part 
of  it  had  been  drafted  in  the  sixti<>s.  Great  was  the  aston- 
ishment when  the  oracular  solution  turned  out  to  l)e  a  virtual 
abandonment  of  the  earlier  value  theory  in  favor  of  an 
ordinary  cost  of  production  doctrine.    Profits,  Marx  now 
declared,  are  equalized  by  competition.    Originally  the 
rates  differed  in  accordance  with  the  proportion  of  variable 
capital  employed,  but  through  the  working  of  com[)etition 
capital  is  withdrawn  from  the  sphere  with  low  profit  rates 

»  Cnpiial,  i,  p.  181.  »  Ibid.,  ii.  p.  28. 


f 


V  #. 


i'l 


'?■•■'  •■ 


^'■- 


v-.a'v 


132 


SOCIALISM 


and  thrown  into  the  industry  with  the  higher  rates,  so  that 
th,.  rates  are  n-du.-nl  t<.  an  averaKt^  thr(»i.«h..,a  the  whole 
held  of  UMlustry.    It  follows  that  eo.nin.Hiituvs  are  not  s<,ld 
at  their  values,  hut  in  a.-eordanee  with  their  pri.e  of  pro- 
duction, that  is.  their  cost  price  plus  the  average  pn.fit  ' 
Marx  has  solved  the  one  contradiction  by  another.    lie 
reconciles  the  law  of  surplus  value  with  the  fact  of  wiual- 
ized  profits  only  by  abandoninR  the  foundation  on  which 
that  law  was  basc-d.  The  discrepancy  Mween  the  first  vol- 
ume, in  which  prices  are  held  to  conform  at  least  ultimately 
to  values,  and  the  third,  in  which  they  are  normally  at  van- 
ance,  is  patent.  Marx  attempts  indeed  to  maintain  consist- 
ency  by  showing  that  the  law  of  labor-value  is  still  in  oper- 
ation.  even  though  in  a  .lifferent  way.   It  governs  the  price 
of  mdividuul  products,  he  declares:  "if  the  lalxir-time  re- 
quired for  the  production  of  these  commodities  is  reduced 
prices  fall;  if  it  is  increased,  prices  rise,  other  circumstanced 
remaining  the  same."*    Doubtless,  "other  circumstances 
remaining  the  same,"  changes  in  one  factor  will  l)e  followed 
by  corres{K)nding  changes  in  the  result,  but  this  is  hardly 
equivalent  to  {.roving  that  the  other  circumstances  so  cava- 
lierly  disF)osed  of  are  not  'actors  of  equal  importance    No 
more  successful  is  the  contention  that,  after  all,  "the  sum 
of  the  profits  of  all  spheres  of  production  must  be  equal  to 
the  sum  o.  suq.lus  values,  and  the  sum  of  the  prices  of 
production  of  the  total  social  product  equal  to  the  sum 
of  Its  values."  3    As  Bcihra-Bawerk  has  suflSciently  shown. 
a  law  of  value  has  to  do  only  with  explaining  the  propor- 
tions in  which  separate  commodities  exchange  with  one 
another,  not  with  a  total  in  which  all  differences  are  ave- 
aged  out.*    What  a  total  of  prices,  of  ratios  and  propor- 
tions, could  be,  is  not  clearly  visible. 

Aside  from  its  inconsistency  with  his  previous  theorv 
iViarx  s  doctrine  of  the  equalization  of  profits  by  compet 

'  Capital,  iii.  chap.  8-12.  «  Ibid.,  p.  208.  '  Ibid.,  r,  «>» 

Up.  at.,  pp.  70.  teq.;  cf.  Komorzynski,  op.  rU ^  p.  jog. 


THE  MARXUN  ANALYSIS 


133 


• 


tion  is  open  to  objection  in  its  nssort!'>n  of  a  primitive  su- 
I)eriority  of  pn)lits  in  iiidustricH  in  u..itli  variabU'  fupital 
prt'doiiiiimtr*!.  Then-  has  luit  as  a  matter  <tf  hisl(»ri<'al  fact 
i)een  any  sn«"h  trend  from  primitive  inccinalily  to  present 
f«iualily.  "The  fquality  of  profits,"  drchircs  Trofessor 
Lexis,  "upiH-ars  pari  jki.i.ih  witii  fa|)itaHslic  methods  and 
in  inseparable  connection  with  them;  much  as  in  the  em- 
l)ryo,  the  circulation  of  the  t)l(H)d  develops  pari  pasnu  with 
the  development  of  shajM!  and  form." ' 

With  the  shift  from  a  lalM)r-eost  theory  of  value  to  the 
ordinary  cost-of- production  basis,  the  ground  is  cut  from 
under  the  doctrine  of  exi)loitation,  based,  as  that  d(K-trine 
is,  on  the  assum|)tion  that  only  variable  <  ajiital  produces 
surplus  value.    Ha<i  the  third  volume  of  "Capital"  ap- 
pcare<l  at  the  same  time  as  the  first,  little  would  have  been 
heard  alK)ut  "exploitation"  from  sfnialist  platforms.    So 
far  from  its  l)einn  true  that  Marx's  severest  stri<  lure  on 
the  iniquities  of  the  capitalist  system  is  that  "contained 
by  implication  in  his  develo|»ment  of  the  manner  in  which 
actual  exchange  value  of  poofls  systematically  diverges 
from  their  real  (labor-cost)  value,"  ^  Marx  explicitly  and 
repeatedly  states,  in  his  analysis  of  surplus  value  and  the 
bitter  arraignment  of  capitalism  deduced  from  it,  that 
"  I   assume  that  commodities  are  sold  at  their  value." ' 
The  whole  doctrine  of  surplus  value  and  the  laws  of  caj)- 
itiilist  development  based  upon  it  rest  on  the  assumption 
that  this  theory  of  value  affords  an  interjjretation  of  actual 
market  facts.   If  it  is  so  meant,  it  confessedly  breaks  down; 
if  it  is  nor  so  meant,  the  whole  theorj'  is  hopelessly  futile 
and    ip  in  the  air.  The  defenders  of  the  labor  theorj'  of 
valine  may  choose  either  horn  of  the  dilemma,  that  it  is  an 

■h^irterly  Journal  of  Ernnomiau  x.  p.  10;  and  cf.  Sombart  in  Braun's 
.{,•««>    rii.  p  r)85. 

'  .  blen.  Quarterly  Journal  of  Eronomic»,  xx,  p.  587. 
jpiW,  ..  p.  344.   Cf.  =.  p.  376:  "In  the  chapters  on  the  prfnturlion 
w  liHplus  value  it  was  constantly  presupposed  that  wages  are  at  leasi 
^-T^'  tc  ih=  vaiae  of  labor-pow-r  " 


11. 


I 


It 


I 


134 


SOCIALISM 


I 


^-=    i^aferf 


erroneous  solution  of  the  problem  of  exchange  value,  or 
that  it  is  not  a  solution  of  the  proMem  at  all.   It  is'  no 
defense  to  ur^^  the  permissibility  of  using  working  hypo- 
theses known  not  to  correspond  to  facts,  and  later  correct- 
ing the  deductions  reached  in  light  of  the  omitted  facts,  for 
here  no  corrections  are  made  of  the  deductions  reached;  it 
must  not  be  lost  sight  of  that  the  ^Jarxian  theory  of  cap- 
italist development  is  based,  not  on  the  amended  and  in- 
nocuous theory  of  value  reached  in  the  third  volume,  but 
on  the  crass  labor-value  theory  of  the  first  volume.  If  the 
esoteric  interpretation  of  Marx  is  correct,  if  the  theory  of 
value  and  the  theory  of  surplus-value  exploitation  are 
merely  hypotheses  which  do  not  correspond  to  reality,  the 
whole  popular  propaganda  of  Marxism  is  built  on  a  sliam, 
and  the  millions  of  workingmen  who  have  been  told  by 
press  and  pamphlet  and  platforr^  orator  that  here  was  the 
scientifically  discovered  key  to  all  their  ills  have  been  fed 
on  an  empty  scholastic  exercise,  a  many-hundred-paged 
disquisition  on  "the  balance  between  goods  ...  in  point 
of  the  metaphysical  reality  of  the  life  process." 

Doubtless  in  the  discussion  of  Marxism  a  disproportionate 
amount  of  attention  has  been  centred  on  the  value  and  sur- 
plus-value theories  to  the  exclusion  of  the  theories  of  capi- 
talist accumulation.  This  prominence  is  due  in  part  to  their 
ready  availability  for  commin:.tory  purposes.  Declarations 
that  all  value  is  created  by  the  toil  of  the  labo'-r.  and  that 
the  capitalist's  income  comes  from  the  appropriation  of  a 
share  of  this  value,  were  of  obvious  demagogic  usefulness, 
especially  when  presented  without  any  of  the  qualifications 
Marx  attached.  Marx  himself  professed  to  base  the  claini 
and  the  coming  of  socialism  on  a  calm,  scientific  analysis 
of  existing  industrial  forces  and  their  inevitable  outcome, 
and  not  on  the  "right  of  the  workman  to  the  full  produce 
of  his  labor,"  or  on  an  appeal  to  the  moral  indignation  of  the 
oppressed  and  the  sympathetic.  Yet  even  in  Llarx  ethical 
judgment  and  partisan  passion  are  never  far  distant  and 


"«** 


^i: 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


135 


in  his  less  scientific  followers  this  moral  aspect  of  his  tlieo- 
ries  attains  more  marked  predominance. 

The  stress  laid  on  these  doctrines  is  also  due  to  their  real 
importance  in  the  closely  knit  Marxian  theory.  Recent 
disciples,  it  is  true,  have  sought  to  save  the  rest  of  the 
system  from  discredit  by  declaring  that  no  necessary  con- 
nection exists  between  the  value  and  the  surplus-value 
doctrine  and  the  doctrines  of  capitalist  development.  "A 
scientific  basis  for  socialism  or  communism,"  Bernstein  con- 
cludes, "  cannot  be  supported  on  the  fact  only  that  the  wage- 
worker  does  not  receive  the  full  value  of  the  product  of  his 
work.  '  Marx,'  says  Engels  in  the  preface  to  the  '  Poverty  of 
Philosophy,'  '  has  never  based  his  communistic  demands 
on  this,  but  on  the  necessary  collapse  of  the  capitalist  mode 
of  production  which  is  daily  being  more  nearly  brought  to 
pass  before  our  eyes.'"*  The  quotation  from  Engels,  on 
which  this  judgment  is  founded  by  Bernstein  and  Sim- 
khovitch,  is  oddly  misapplied.  A  reference  to  Engels*  con- 
text shows  that  the  foundation  that  Marx  rejected  is  not 
the  labor  theory  of  value,  but  the  ethical  condemnation 
of  the  capitalist  system  which  the  English  socialists  of  the 
post-Ricardian  school  deduced  from  that  theory.*   Marx 


'  Erdutionary  Socialism,  p.  39.  Cf.  Oppenheimer.  Das  Grundgesefz  der 
Marxsclien  GeselUchaftslehrc,  p.  15;  and  Simkhovitch,  -lahrbuch  fiir 
Nationalokonomik  und  Statistik,  xvii,  Keft  6:  "Marx's  socialist  demands 
and  his  theorv-  of  value  are  genetically  related,  but  systematically 
considered  there  is  no  connection  whatever  between  them.  In  sayinj?  this 
I  merely  repeat  something  whicl'  is  self-evident  to  every  philosophically 
educate*!  person  who  has  grasped  the  Marxian  philosophy.  Anybody  who 
cares  can  find  specific  statements  to  that  effect  in  Marx  and  Engels.  So 
says  Engels  about  the  relation  of  Marx's  socialism  to  his  theory  of  value: 
'Marx  therefore  never  based  his  communistic  demands  thereon,  but  on 
the  inevitable  breakdown  of  the  capitalist  mode  of  production  which  we 
daily  see  approaching  its  end.' "  —  Translated  by  Boudin,  Theoretical 
System  of  Karl  Marx.  p.  150. 

'  "The  above  application  of  the  theory  of  Ricardo.  which  shows  to 
the  workers  that  the  totality  of  social  production,  which  is  their  product, 
belongs  to  them  because  they  arc  the  only  real  producers,  leads  direct  to 
communism.   But  it  is  also,  a-s  Marx  shows,  false  in  form,  economically 


1 


'i^j 


:=F<^;^a 


^^ 


<b^ 


^Jmm^  ^^-'*.-^ 


136 


SOCIAUSM 


f« 


based  his  communistic  demands  on  the  inevitable  collapse 
of  capitalism,  it  is  true,  but  he  deduced  the  inevitability  of 
this  collapse  from  his  value  and  surplus-value  doctrines. 
It  is  impossible  to  preserve  the  Marxian  superstructure 
while  rejecting  the  comer-stone. 

speaking,  because  it  b  simply  an  application  of  morality  to  economics. 
.  .  .  We  say,  'That  is  unjiut,  it  ought  not  to  be';  that  has  nothing  what- 
ever to  do  with  economics;  we  are  only  stating  that  this  economic  fact 
is  in  contradiction  to  our  moral  sentiment.  That  is  why  Marx  has  never 
baaed  his  communistic  conclusions  upon  this,  but  rather  on  the  necessary 
collapse  of  the  capitalist  mode  of  production  which  is  being  cLJly  more 
nearly  brought  to  pass  before  our  eyes.'" — Poverty  of  Philoiophy,tTaD»- 
lated  by  Quelch,  p.  vi. 

The  orthodox  Marxian  view  on  this  point  is  trenchantly  presented  in 
the  following  passage  from  Boudin:  "Our  philosophically  educated  critic 
evidently  got  things  somewhat  mixed.  Marx  never  based  his  communistic 
demands  on  the  moral  applicalion  of  the  Ricardian,  or  his  own,  theory  of 
value.  Nor  on  any  morality  for  that  matter.  Therein  he  differed  from 
the  Utopian  socialists  who  preceded  him,  and  from  such  of  those  who 
followed  him,  who,  like  Bernstein  for  instance,  have  returned  to  the  moral 
application  of  economic  theories.  That  is  why  Bernstein  and  the  rest 
of  the  Revisionists  do  not  see  the  connection  between  the  Marxian  the- 
ory of  value  and  hb  socialbm.  Any  theory  of  value  will  do  for  them 
as  long  as  it  permits  the  moral  application  which  they  are  after.  And  as 
any  theory  might  be  made  to  yield  such  a  moral  to  those  who  look  for  it, 
they  have  become  indifferent  to  theories  of  value  in  general.  Not  so  with 
Marx.  His  socialism  b  scientific,  as  distinguished  from  Utopian  based  on 
moral  applications,  in  that  it  b  the  result  of  'the  inevitable  breakdown 
of  the  capitalbtic  mode  of  production.*  But  this  inevitable  breakdown 
can  only  be  understood  and  explained  'oy  the  aid  of  the  Marxian  theory 
of  value.  That  is  why  thb  theory  of  value  and  his  socialism  are  so  inti- 
mately connected  in  hb  system.  Marx  based  his  socialism  on  his  theory 
of  value.  But  on  its  economic  results,  not  on  its  moral  application." 
—Boudin,  pp.  151-152. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    BfABXIAN    ANALYSIS:     III.   THE    LAW    OF    CAPITAU8T 
DEVELOPMENT 


(a)  Industrial  Reserve  Army 

Marx  now  proceeds  to  the  third  stage  in  his  analysis  of 
Capitalism.  The  materialistic  conception  of  history,  we 
have  seen,  gave  him  the  key  to  the  explanation  of  this,  as 
of  previous  eras,  as  the  multiform  expression  of  a  class 
struggle  between  exploiter  and  exploited.  In  the  theories 
of  value  and  surplus  value  he  set  forth  the  mechanism  of 
capitalist  exploitation.  In  the  law  of  ipitalist  develop- 
ment he  sums  up  the  tendencies  which  dominate  the 
existing  order,  and  seeks  to  demonstrate  the  immanent 
necessity  at  once  of  the  breakdown  of  capitalism  and  of 
the  coming  of  socialism. 

He  begins  by  emphasizing  the  progressively  increasing 
scale  of  capitalist  production.  The  surplus  value  which  the 
vampire  capital  has  sucked  from  labor '  rests  at  the  capital- 
ist's disposal.  He  may  elect  either  to  spend  it  in  personal 
enjoyment  or  to  reinvest  it  in  production.  He  is  torn  be- 
tween two  passions,  the  passion  for  indulgence  and  the 
passion  for  accumulation.  The  capitalist  of  to-day  is  more 
likely  thpn  his  grandfather  to  devote  a  considerable  portion 
to  luxury  and  display,  the  more  so  because  a  certain  amount 
of  conspicuous  waste,  "a  conventional  degree  of  prodigal- 
ity," becomes  a  business  necessity  as  the  basis  for  credit. 
Yet  the  other  passion  conquers.  He  shares  with  the  miser 
the  passion  for  wealth  as  wealth,  while  in  addition  the  de- 

'  "Capital  is  dead  labor  that,  vampire-like,  only  lives  by  sucking  living 
labor  and  lives  the  more  the  more  labor  it  sucks."  —  Capitd,  i.  p.  134. 


1S8 


SOCIALISM 


i 


:^^ 

m. 


£ 


mands  of  competition  make  it  constantly  necessary  to 
increase  the  size  of  his  undertaking :  "  Competition  makes 
the  immanent  laws  of  capitalist  production  to  be  felt  by 
each  individual  capitalist  as  external  coercive  laws." ' 
"Therefore  save,  save  .  .  .  accumulate,  accumulate.  That  is 
Moses  and  the  prophets.  .  .  .  Accumulation  for  accumu- 
lation's sake,  production  for  production's  sake.  ...  If, 
to  classical  economy,  the  proletarian  is  but  a  machine  for 
the  production  of  surplus  value;  on  the  other  hand  the  cap- 
italist is,  in  its  eyes,  only  a  machine  for  the  conversion  of 
this  surplus  value  into  additional  capital."  * 

Marx  proceeds  to  consider  the  effect  of  this  automatic 
growth  of  capital  on  the  lot  of  the  working  class.  The  most 
important  factor  in  this  investigation  is  the  composition 
of  capital  and  the  changes  it  undergoes:  the  composition  of 
capital  being  the  proportion  between  variable  capital,  the 
sum  total  of  wages,  and  constant  capital,  the  value  of 
the  plant  and  materials,  or  the  proportion  between  capital 
goods  and  the  livmg  labor-power,  according  as  the  stand- 
point of  value  or  the  standpoint  of  technical  composition 
is  chosen.  Two  hypotheses  are  considered:  first,  that  the 
proportion  remains  unchanged;  second,  that  the  constant 
capital  grows  faster  than  the  variable. 

On  the  first  hypothesis,  Marx  declares  that  any  rise  in 
wages  will  cut  down  profits,  discourage  accumulation,  and 
lead  eventually  to  a  lowered  wage  again.  In  this  argument 
he  has  merely  refurbished  one  of  the  most  questionable 
corollaries  of  that  old  wage-fund  doctrine,  "invented  by 
God  and  Bentham,"  which  he  himself  had  vigorously  criti- 
cised.' His  theory  overlooks  entirely  the  possibility  of  im- 
proved wages  leading  to  increased  efficiency  and  a  higher 
productivity,  with  the  result  that  profits  would  not  be  less- 
ened in  the  slightest.  Nor  does  it  follow  that  "a  smaller 
part  of  revenue  is  capitalized,"  even  with  efficiency  and 
productivity  at  a  standstill  and  profits  consequently  falling. 

'  Capilal,  I.  pp.  871-374.         *  lind..  pp.  373-ST4.        '  Ibid.,  p.  384. 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


130 


If  under  revenue  Marx  means  to  include  that  portion  of  the 
product  which  falls  to  the  workers,  it  is  conceivable,  though 
not  highly  probable,  that  the  increased  savings  of  the  work- 
ers would  make  up  for  the  decreased  savings  of  the  capital- 
ists. And  if,  as  is  more  probable,  he  means  by  the  term 
merely  that  part  which  falls  to  the  capitaUsts,  it  is  far  from 
being  certain  that  a  fall  in  the  profit  or  interest  rate  would 
lead  to  slackening  accumulation.  A  fall  in  interest  rate 
does  not  affect  the  almost  automatic  "saving"  from  great 
surplus  incomes  which  exceed  the  bounds  of  sane  personal 
expenditure,  while  it  stimulates  rather  than  hinders  saving 
for  the  maintenance  of  a  definite  standard  of  living  in  the 
future.'  It  may  be  observed  that  while  Marx  makes  no  ex- 
plicit statement  as  to  the  variations  in  the  numbers  seeking 
work,  and  holds  vaguely  that  "accumulation  of  capital 
means  increase  of  the  proletariat,"  he  evidently  implies 
"the  most  favorable  condition"  of  slower  increase  of  popu- 
lation than  of  capital.* 

It  is,  however,  the  second  hypothesis,  the  relative  in- 
crease of  constant  capital,  on  which  Marx  lays  chief  stress. 
In  this  investigation  he  recurs  to  the  problem  of  the  effect 
of  machinery  discussed  at  an  earlier  stage,'  but  approaches 
it  from  a  somewhat  different  angle.  Instead  of  considering 
the  effect  of  the  introduction  of  machinery  in  certain  in- 
dustries primarily  on  the  workmen  in  those  trades,  he  takes 
society  as  a  whole  and  studies  the  general  results  of  the 
tendency  of  constant  capital  to  gain  at  the  expense  of  vari- 
able. This  tendency  is  deduced  from  the  fact  that  "with 
the  division  of  labor  in  manufacture  and  with  the  use  of 
machinery  more  raw  material  is  worked  up  in  the  same 
time,  and,  therefore,  a  greater  mass  of  raw  material  and 
auxiliary  substances  enter  into  the  labor  process,"  and 

«  Cf.  Clark,  Essentials  of  Economic  Theory,  chap,  xx,  and  Hobson, 
Economics  of  Disiribvfion,  p.  1.58. 
»  Cf.  Kautsky,  Karl  Marx  Oekonomische  Lehren,  12th  edition,  p.  «36. 
'  Capital,  i,  chap.  15;  see  above,  p.  33. 


W^tfiS^SSC^^ 


140 


SOCIALISM 


54;-, ^ 


from  the  growing  concentration  of  industry  and  the  in- 
creasing scale  of  its  operations.  It  results  in,  or  rather  is 
identical  with,  a  relative  decrease  of  the  capital  expended 
in  the  purchase  of  labor-power.  A  steam  plow  is  an 
incomp  y  better  instrument  of  production  than  an 
ordinary  plow,  but  the  capital  it  represents  would  em- 
ploy more  men  if  laid  out  in  ordinary  plows.  The  rela- 
tively smaller  proportion  of  capital  available  for  the  hire 
of  laborers  means  that  large  numbers  are  unable  to  find 
employment.  There  grows  up  an  "industrial  reserve 
army,"  which  is  necessary  for  the  smooth  working  of  the 
capitalist  system,  making  possible  sudden  expansions  in 
new  directions  without  dislocating  existing  industries.  The 
ranks  of  this  army  may  be  swelled  by  the  success  of  the 
capitalist  in  pressing  a  given  quantity  of  labor  out  of  fewer 
laborers  by  slave-driving  methods.  The  pressure  of  this 
surplus  population  for  employment  forces  those  who  have 
found  positions  to  submit  to  overwork  and  lower  wages. 
"Taking  them  as  a  whole,  the  general  movements  of  wages 
are  exclusively  regulated  by  the  expansion  and  contraction 
of  the  industrial  reserve  army.  .  .  .  They  are  therefore 
not  determined  by  the  variations  of  the  absolute  number 
of  the  working  population,  but  of  the  varying  proportions 
in  which  the  working  class  is  divided  into  active  and  reserve 
army." ' 

This  doctrine  of  the  industrial  reserve  army  is  the  cul- 
minating point  in  the  Marxian  theory  of  capitaUst  evolu- 
tion.* Yet  in  this  crucial  section  the  reasoning  is  incredibly 
loose  and  the  basis  in  facts  most  insecure.  Grant  that  vari- 
able capital,  by  which  Marx  means  virtually  the  outlay  in 
wages,  is  decreasing  relatively  to  capital  as  a  whole.  This,  of 

'  Capital,  ii.  pp.  390-401. 

^  "The  law  of  acTuniulation,  with  its  corollary,  the  doctrine  of  the 
indiisfrial  reserve  arm.v.  is  the  final  term  and  the  objective  point  of 
Marx's  theorv  of  tapitalLst  pro<Inction,  just  as  the  theory  of  labor-value 
is  his  point  of  departure."  — Veblen,  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  xx. 
p.  589. 


Ii 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


141 


course,  does  not  prevent  its  absolute  increase.  The  extent 
of  unemployment  will  increase  only  if  the  variable  capital 
is  increasing  more  slowly  than  the  work-seeking  popula- 
tion, not  than  all  capital.    It  is,  to  adopt  Marx's  semi- 
wage-fund  basis  of  reasoning,  the  proportion  between  vari- 
able capital  and  population  which  is  really  important,  not 
the  proportion  between  the  constituent  parts  of  capital. 
Marx's  position  would  be  justified  only  if  he  proved  that 
population,  or  at  least  the  amount  of  labor-power  in  the 
market,  is  bound  to  increase  faster  than  variable  capital. 
The  nearest  approach  to  an  argument  is  the  contention 
that,  to  quote  Adam  Smith,  "poverty  is  favorable  to  gen- 
eration"; and,  Marx  continues,  "not  only  the  number  of 
births  and  deaths  but  the  absolute  size  of  the  families 
stand  in  inverse  proportion  to  the  height  of  wages  and 
therefore  to  the  amount  of  means  of  subsistence  of  which 
the  different  categories  of  laborers  dispose." '    Probably 
Marx  is  here  nearer  the  truth  than  is  Malthus,  but  what  of 
it?  If  at  all,  this  proposition  is  true  only  where  a  given 
degree  of  poverty  exists  to  begin  with,  and  Marx  makes 
no  attempt  to  demonstrate  that  the  bulk  of  the  working 
classes  of  England  was  as  a  matter  of  fact  in  that  de- 
spwring,  caste-barriered,  and  caste-contented  stage  where 
population  is  restrained  by  no  considerations  of  prudence 
or  hope  of  rising.  At  most,  the  proposition,  if  proved,  only 
demonstrates  that  population  increases  faster  in  poverty 
than  in  luxury;  it  throws  no  Ught  on  the  rate  of  its 
increase  relatively  to  variable  capital. 

Nor  is  Marx  more  fortunate  in  his  appeal  to  facts.  He 
quotes  from  the  census  returns  of  England  and  Wales  in 
1851  and  1861  to  prove  his  contention  that  opportunities 
of  employment  are  decreasing.'^  True,  some  of  these  trades 
selerted  show  an  absolute  decrease  of  numbers  employed, 
and  if  the  totals  are  taken  and  compared  with  the  total 
population  at  the  different  times  (an  operation  which  Marx 

»  Veblen.  Quartfrly  Journal  of  Economics,  xx,  p.  405.     '  Ibid.,  p.  896. 


..<,%. 


VAE: 


^flr  ^mL.  "mm^t^-  'rvK;vy^s-;--^c^i. 


o 


^^  ^^m 


142 


SOCIALISM 


i 


1 


does  not  perform)  it  will  be  seen  that  there  has  been  a  rela- 
tive falling-off,  that  these  trades  offered  fewer  openings  in 
proportion  to  the  work-seeking  population  in  1861  than 
in  1851.  But  what  tyro  in  statistics  would  imagine  that 
that  proved  the  proposition  of  a  general  decrease  in  employ- 
ment opportunities  ?  Marx  has  picked  out  fourteen  of  the 
hundreds  of  occupations,  picked  at  random  or  because  of 
their  stationary  or  retrograde  character,  comb-making  and 
chandlery  lumped  with  coal-mining  and  cotton-weaving, 
and  offers  them  as  typical  of  the  whole  industrial  situation. 
The  fallacy  lies  in  overlooking  the  fact  that  the  very  essence 
V-   nodem  industrial  progress  rests  in  the  ability  to  satisfy 
specific  wants  with  an  ever  smaller  proportion  of  society's 
force  of  labor  and  capital,  thus  setting  the  rest  free  for  the 
provision  of  new  services  and  commodities.    Had  Marx 
taken  the  sum  total  engaged  in  all  the  branches  of  manu- 
facture at  the  two  periods  in  question,  he  would  have  been 
compelled  to  admit  that  whereas  in  1851,  of  every  1000 
there  were  152  engaged  in  manufacturing,  in  1861  there 
were  154  so  engaged.'  The  statistical  basis  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  industrial  reserve  army  is  as  weak  as  its  logical 
basis.* 

•  Based  on  Mulhall,  Dictionary  of  Statistics,  1892,  pp.  424,  444. 

*  Marx's  main  contention,  that  variations  in  the  composition  of  capital 
create  an  industrial  reserve  army,  which  is  bound  to  increase  with  the 
ever-growing  proportion  of  constant  capital,  does  not  stand  analysis.  His 
suggestion,  adopted  from  Merivale,  that  a  reserve  of  labor,  however 
created,  and  whether  increasing  or  decreasing,  is  necessary  for  the  smooth 
working  of  the  capitalist  system,  has  more  plausibility.  It  is  necessary, 
according  to  Marx,  in  view  of  the  great  fluctuations  in  demand  for  labor 
b  good  times  and  bad  times,  that  the  capitalist  should  be  able,  when 
prosperity  is  at  its  height,  to  throw  "great  masses  of  men  suddenly  on  the 
decisive  points  without  injury  to  the  scale  of  production  in  other  spheres." 
There  is  much  force  in  this.  Yet  it  does  not  follow  that  cyclical  fluctua- 
tions in  demand  for  labor  necessarily  involve  the  uncmploymt  at  of  large 
numbers  in  times  of  depression.  The  distinction  between  labor-power  and 
number  of  laborers,  which  Marx  makes  for  another  purpose  (ibid.,  p.  399), 
serves  to  remind  us  that  the  worst  consequences  of  fluctuation  may  be 
averted  by  altering  the  hours  worked  rather  than  the  ni!ml)cr  employed. 


mm'^^^^.^mL^mrj^SA^:^ 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


148 


This  theory,  it  will  be  apparent,  is  radically  different 
from  the  iron  law  of  wages  adopted  by  Lassalle,  with  en- 
thusiastic pessimism,  from  current  classical  economics,  and 
frequently  but  erroneously  saddled  on  Marx,  whose  dis- 
ciples forced  its  exclusion  from  the  official  programme 
of  German  Social  Democracy  at  the  Erfurt  revision  in 
1891.  The  Lassallian  doctrine,  a  combination  of  Ricardian 
value  theories  and  Malthusian  population  theories,  asserts 
first,  a  normal  point  about  which  wages  gravitate,  namely, 
the  barely  necessary  means  of  subsistence,  and  second,  a 
force  which  makes  wages  gravitate  towards  this  point, 
namely,  the  tendency  of  population  to  increase  with  pro- 
sperity and  decrease  in  adversity.*  Marx  has  also  a  sub- 
sistence-wage doctrine;  in  his  exposition  of  the  theory  of 
surplus  value  he  riiaintained  that  the  value  of  labor-power 
is  fixed  by  its  labor-cost,  by  the  quantity  of  labor  necessary 
to  produce  the  means  of  subsistence.  Especially  in  his 
version  stress  is  laid  on  the  historical  and  conventional 
influences;  the  standard  of  living  is  not  a  physiological 
minimum,  but  varies  indefinitely  with  the  traditions  of  the 

thus  preventing  the  concentration  of  unemployment  on  a  hapless  minor- 
ity. Further,  so  far  as  unemployment  of  a  minority  does  result,  recent 
developments  in  insurance  against  unemployment  show  that  it  is  quite 
possible  to  make  each  industry  pay  for  the  upkeep  of  whatever  reserve 
it  finds  necessary  to  provide.  Cf.  Beveridge,  Unemployment,  a  Problem 
of  Industry. 

»  "The  merciless  economical  rule,  under  which  the  present  system 
fixes  the  rate  of  wages,  in  obedience  to  the  so<alled  law  of  supply  and 
demand  for  labor,  b  this:  that  the  average  wages  always  remain  reduced 
to  that  rate  which  in  a  people  is  barely  necessary  for  existence  and  pro- 
pagation; a  matter  governed  by  the  customary  manner  of  living  of  each 
people.  That  is  the  inexorable  point  about  which  the  real  wages  always 
gravitate;  neither  keeping  long  above  or  below  it.  Were  it  to  remain  for 
any  length  of  time  above  it,  there  would  be  an  mcrease  of  marriages,  from 
which  would  flow  a  greatly  increased  number  of  the  working  element, 
which  would  invariably  bring  down  the  wages  below  its  former  rate.  The 
wages  also  cannot  fall  with  anything  like  permanence  below  the  onlinary 
rate  of  living;  as  from  it  would  flow  emigration,  celibacy,  restraint  in  the 
number  of  births,  circumstances  in  the  end  lessening  the  number  of  labor- 
ers."— I_as.s.".l!e,  Open  Letter,  translated  by  Ehmann  and  Bader,  pp.  17-18. 


144 


SOCIALISM 


working  class."  In  this  part  of  his  theory  Marx  is  fully 
as  optimistic  as  Lassalle;  a  subsistence  level  which  mcludea 
all  conventional  requirements  u  quite  consistent  with 
steady  improven.v.nt.  But  the  case  is  different  when  the 
second  portions  of  the  two  theories  are  compared.  The 
Lassallian  doctrine  implies  a  rhythmic  readjustment  of 
wages  above  and  below  the  normal  point.  Marx's  industrial 
reserve  army  theory,  based  on  a  repudiation  of  Malthus 
and  all  his  works,  offers  the  possibility  of  a  fall  in  wages 
becoming  cumulatively  worse,  without  any  compensating 
action.' 

The  relation  between  the  two  Marxian  positions  on  the 
wages  question  —  the  subsistence  and  the  industrial  re- 
serve army  theories  —  is  not  made  clear.  In  the  chapter 
on  the  conversion  of  surplus  value  into  capital,  there  is  a 
passage  which  at  first  glance  appears  to  imply  that  the  sub- 
sistence theory  was  merely  a  hypothesis  not  entirely  borne 
out  by  fact.  After  reminding  us  that  "in  the  chapters  on 
the  production  of  surplus  value  it  was  constantly  pre- 
supposed that  wages  are  at  least  equal  to  the  value  of  labor- 
power,"  Marx  adds,  "Forcible  reduction  of  wages  below 
this  value  plays,  however,  m  practice,  too  important  a  part 
for  us  not  to  pause  upon  it  for  a  moment.  It  in  fact  trans- 
forms within  certain  limits  the  laborer's  necessary  con- 

'  "The  number  and  extent  of  the  workman's  so-called  necessary 
wants,  as  also  the  modes  of  satisfying  tiiem.  are  themselves  the  product 
of  historical  development,  and  depend  therefore  to  a  great  extent  on  the 
degree  of  civilization  of  a  coun'ry  —  more  particularly  on  the  conditions 
under  which,  and  consequently  on  the  habits  and  degree  of  comfort  in 
which,  the  class  of  free  laborers  has  been  formed.  In  contradistinction, 
therefore,  to  the  case  of  other  commo<lities,  there  enters  into  the  deter^ 
mination  of  the  value  of  labor-power  an  historical  and  moral  element." 

Capital,  1,  p.  93.  Lassalle  also  recognizes  conventional  elements  m  the 
standard  of  living. 

'  Marx  coranipnts  trenchantly  on  the  tlootrine  .set  forth  alwve : "  Before, 
in  lonscqiiencc  of  the  rise  in  wages,  any  positive  inirease  of  the  popula- 
tion really  fit  for  work  could  occur,  the  time  would  have  passe<l  again 
and  again,  during  which  the  indu.strial  campaign  must  have  been  carried 
through,  the  battle  fought  and  won."  —  Ihid.,  p.  401. 


n  ■  i 


ms^- 


.V>^*iV^  v~^,^^  3C^- 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


145 


sumption  fund  into  a  fund  for  the  accumulation  of  capital. 
.  .  .  The  constant  tendency  of  capital  is  to  force  the  cost 
of  labor  back  toward  this  zero."  '  It  will  be  seen,  however, 
referring  to  the  instances  given,  that  a  fall  in  wages  through 
a  reduction  in  the  standard  of  living  from  the  adoption 
of  cheaper  or  adulterated  foods  is  an  illustration  rather  than 
a  violation  of  the  subsistence  theory,  while  the  poor-law 
example  cited  has  to  do  with  a  situation  where  wages  are 
fixed  by  legal  authority,  not  by  competition,  and  thus  falls 
outside  the  limits  within  which  Marx  is  pursuing  the  trail 
of  capitalism.'  If,  then,  both  the  doctrines  are  supposed  to 
be  retained,  Marx  is  faced  with  this  difficulty:  either  the 
subsistence  level  of  wages  and  the  level  fixed  by  the  com- 
petition of  the  industrial  reserve  army  are  independent,  in 
which  case  we  have  two  unreconciled  wage  doctrines,  or 
there  is  a  causal  connection  between  the  fluctuations  of  the 
industrial  reserve  army  and  the  fluctuations  of  the  stand- 
ard of  living,  in  which  case  there  is  obvious  circular  reason- 
ing, the  existence  of  the  industrial  reserve  army  being  thus 
assumed  in  the  proof  of  the  surplus-value  theory  and  sur- 
plus value  later  taken  as  the  basis  of  the  formation  of  the 
industrial  reserve  army.   Since  thus  far  at  least  prices  of 

>  Capita!,  i,  p.  376.  After  quoting  a  representative  of  the  "innermost 
secret  soul  of  English  Capitalism"  who  sighs  for  a  reduction  of  the  English 
laborer's  standard,  including  brandy,  gin.  tea,  sugar,  foreign  fruit,  strong 
beer,  tobacco  and  snuff,  to  the  French  (agricultural)  laborer's  level  of 
bread,  fruit,  herbs,  roots,  dried  6sh,  and  "water  or  other  small  'iq"""""' 
Marx  proceeds:  "Twenty  years  later  an  American  humbug,  the  baronized 
Yankee,  Benjamin  Thomson  (alias  Count  Rumford),  followed  the  same 
line  of  philanthropy  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  God  and  man.  His 
'Essays'  are  a  cookery-book  with  receipts  of  all  kinds  for  replacing,  by 
some  succcdaneura,  the  ordinary  dear  food  of  the  lalwrer.  .  .  .  With  the 
advance  of  capitalistic  production,  the  adulteration  of  food  rendered 
Thomson's  ideal  superBuous.  At  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  and  during  the 
first  ten  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  English  farmers  and  land- 
lords enforced  the  absolute  minimum  of  wage  by  paying  the  agricultural 
laborers  less  than  the  minimum  in  the  form  of  wages  and  the  remainder 
in  tiie  shape  of  parochial  relief." 
'  Ibid.,  p.  98. 


iv 


140 


SOCIALLSM 


^: 


.9 


labor  as  of  other  commodities  are  aHsumed  to  be  eq  ual  to 
values,  there  is  no  escape  from  this  dilemma  througli  the 
plea  of  their  divergence. 

(b)  Increaaing  Misery 

Bdt  to  return  to  Marx's  forecast  of  the  development  of 
capitalist  society,  especially  so  far  as  the  workers  are  con- 
cerned. The  climax  of  his  arraignment  is  his  picture  of  the 
misery,  slavery,  and  degradation  into  which  the  working 
class  are  to  sink  deeper  and  deeper  until  the  day  of  revolu- 
tion dawns.  He  reiterates  the  charges  brought  against  the 
capitalist  system  to  the  eflfect  that  "all  methods  for  raising 
the  social  productiveness  of  labor  are  brought  about  at  the 
cost  of  the  individual  laborer;  all  means  for  the  develop- 
ment of  production  transform  themselves  into  means  of 
domination  over  and  exploitation  of  the  producer;  they 
mutilate  the  laborer  into  a  fragment  of  a  man,  degrade  him 
to  the  level  of  an  appendage  of  a  machine,  destroy  every 
remnant  of  charm  in  his  work  and  turn  it  into  a  hated  toil; 
they  estrange  torn  him  the  intellectual  potentialities  of  the 
labor  process  in  the  same  proportion  as  science  is  incorpo- 
rated in  it  as  an  independent  power;  they  distort  the  con- 
ditions under  which  he  works,  subject  him  during  the  labor 
process  to  a  despotism  the  more  hateful  for  its  meanness; 
they  transform  his  lifetime  into  workingtime  and  drag  his 
wife  and  child  beneath  the  wheals  of  the  Juggernaut  of  capi- 
talism." Then,  occupying  new  ground,  he  declares  that  the 
formation  of  the  industrial  reserve  army  involves  a  cumu- 
lative degradation;  not  only  are  things  in  an  evil  state  but 
they  must  grow  continually  worse.  For  '•  all  methods  for  the 
production  of  surplus  value  are  at  the  same  time  methods 
of  accumulation;  and  every  extension  of  accumulation  be- 
comes again  a  means  for  the  development  of  those  methods. 
It  follows,  therefore,  that  in  proportion  as  capital  accumu- 
lates, the  lot  of  the  laborer,  be  Lis  payment  high  or  low, 


THE  MARXUN  ANALYSIS 


147 


i 


tnisst   frrow  worse     The  law.  fiiiplly.  that  always  cquili- 
l.ratcs  the  rclativt  m^^\^li^  iM)i)uliii  ion  or  industrial  reserve 
army,  to  the  extent  and  energy  oi  aceumulation.  this  law 
rivets  the  Ial)<)rer  to  eapitai  niore  lirmly  than  the  wedf?es 
of  Vulcan  did  Prometheus  to  the  r  K.k.   It  establishes  an 
a<rumulatiou  of  iniserj-,  <x)rres|H)ndi  \u,  with  acc;uniulation 
of  capital.  Accumulation  of  wealth  at  one  :'oIe  is,  therefore, 
at  the  same  time  accumulation  of  misery,  agony  of  toil, 
slavery,  ignorance,  brutality,  mental  degradat'on,  at  the 
opposite  \w\c  —  i.e.,  on  the  side  of  the  class  whicn  produces 
its  own  product  in  the  form  of  capital.  .  .  .  Along  with  the 
constantly  diminishing  numl)er  of  the  magnates  of  capital, 
who  usurp  and  monopolize  all  advantages  of  this  process 
of  transformation,  grows  the  ma>:    of  misery,  oppression, 
slavery,  degradation,  exploitation;  but  with  this  too  grows 
the  revolt  of  the  working  class,  a  class  always  increasing  in 
numbers,  and  disciplined,  united,  organized  by  the  very 
mechanism  of  the  process  of  ca[)italist  production   it- 
self."'   The  conclusion  is  in  essence   the   same  as  the 
briefer  forecast  made  in  the  Communist  Manifesto:  "The 
modern  laborer,  on  the  contrary,  instead  of  rising  with  the 
progress  of  industry,  sinks  deeper  and  deeper  below  the  con- 
ditions of  existence  of  his  own  class.  He  becomes  a  pauper, 
and  pauperism  develops  more  rapidly  than  population  and 

wealth."' 

This  climax  of  pessimism  is  also  a  climax  of  unfulfilled 
prophesying.  No  social  fact  is  Ix^tter  establishe<l  than  that 
the  forty  years  which  have  passed  since  Marx  penned  this 
dismal  forecast  have  brought  the  working  classes  in  every 
civilized  country  not  increasing  degradation,  misery,  and 
enslavement,  but  increasing  material  welfare,  freedom  and 
opportunity  of  development.  This  betterment  is  so  patent 
that  it  is  necessary  to  cite  in  proof  only  a  few  typical  facts 
out  of  the  mass  of  c  idence  available.  It  is  undeniable  that 

»  Capital,  i,  pp.  406-407,  487. 
»  F.  SI. 


I 


<vy-< 


148 


SOCIALISM 


wages  have  risen  all  along  the  line,  whether  money  wages 
or  real  wages  be  considered.'   Equally  significant  are  the 
statistics  of  consumption  of  those  articles  in  the  demand 
for  which  the  working  classes  exercise  a  preponderating  in- 
fluence. The  per  capita  consumption  of  many  commodities 
—  wheat  flour,  cocoa,  coflFee,  cotton,  currants  and  raisins 
meat,  nee,  sugar,  tea,  tobacco,  wool,  wine,  spirits,  malt  and 
beer  —  m  the  United  Kingdom  shows  an  increase  of  over 
twenty  per  cent  since  Marx  wrote.*  Further,  it  should  be 
remembered  that  in  addition  to  his  heightened  individual 
purchasmg  power  the  modem  workman  shares  in  those 
many  free  public  services  which   state  or  private  bene- 
ficence places  at  his  disposal,  -  schools,  parks,  museums. 

♦-Kl^*  '"'«!''*.  °"^  «' «t«t«ti«  bearing  out  this  point  the  foUowinK 
table  from  Bowley  may  be  selected  for  its  brevity  and  authoritative^ 
Movements  of  Real  and  Nominal  Wages  in  the  United  K.vnn«« 
Fhance,  and  the  United  States,  fbom  18^33  to  1^3    "" 


1844 
to 'AS 


ITnited  Kingdom,  NomiiuJ  SI 

Uutcd  Kingdom.  Beal  5S 

France,  Nominal  52 

F.anc*,  Rral  gs 

United  Sutes,  Nominal  AS 

United  States,  Real  54 


18<4 

1864 

1874 

1884 

to '63 

to '73 

to '88 

to '93 

1891 

78 

8« 

93 

03 

100 

Bl 

<9 

8« 

97 

100 

«B 

78 

86 

95 

100 

01 

67 

78 

94 

100 

<8 

7« 

86 

95 

100 

U 

57 

75 

95 

100 

Increaae  fram 

1844-58 

to  1884-98 

84% 
88 
9« 
81 


85 


M  „  ....  ~  Bowley,  Econ.  Jour.,  viii.  n.  488. 

More  recent  tendencies  in  the  United  Sutes,  for  example,  show  a  slo^r 

rate  of  merease  m  real  wages.  "As  compared  in  each  cL  iith  the t^.! 

ifre  i  8  lircTntr J'""  '."  T'  '''^  •'^^"«^  '"'^^  ^^  hour  inl^ 
Tn^       T.  '"«''«'•  »°d  tbe  average  hours  of  labor  per  week  were 

6.0  per  c-ent  lower.  .  .  .  The  retail  price  of  the  principal  ar^cJSf^ 
weighted  acconlmg  to  family  consumption  of  the  various  aScksTa 
JOB  per  cent  h.gher.  ...  The  purchasing  power  of  an  hourwILT 

greater.   —  BuUeltn,  Bureau  of  Labor,  Julv.  1908.  pp   1-6 

On  German  conditions,  cf.  Sombart:  "In  the  kingdom' of  Saxony  the 
persons  w.th  an  mcome  of  less  than  500  marks  formed  ^IM^^^t 

m  1900.     n  Prussm  .n  18»«.  70.27  per  cent  of  the  people  possessedan  in 
come  of  less  than  900  marks,  in  IflOO  m  i.^  ^    t'^*'"'  l««^ssea  an  m- 
36  2  Der  cpnt  "      „7"  ?'""*•  'n  '900.  62  41  per  cent,  and  in  1906  only 
36^2  per  cent^  -S^alt»mus  und  soziale  Bewgung.  6tb  ediUon  d  96 
*  Journal.  Royal  Statical  Society,  D^c    im  ""^"'"' P' »«• 


W 


■P 


r  - 


^"P 


...  '9"^£-;- 


y^^^^iyi 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


140 


and  libraries.  If  we  turn  to  the  mortality  tables,  the  al- 
most unbroken  fall  of  the  death-rate  bears  witness  in  the 
same  direction,  and  a  study  of  the  occupational  rate  makes 
it  evident  that  the  improvement  has  been  general  through- 
out all  classes  of  society.'  Housing  conditions  in  the  coun- 
try which  Marx  considered  the  classic  land  of  capitalism 
reveal  steady  betterment.*  The  same  tale  is  told  by  the 
reports  of  friendly  society  funds,  trade-union  incomes,  and 


«  Annual  Death-Rates  per  1000  Persons,  1850-1905 


Ymr 
1850 
18*iO 
1870 
18801 
1890 
1900 
1905 


England  and  WaUt 
80.8 
<1.< 
(«.» 

<o.a 
1»J 

18.« 
15.< 


Frantt 
21.4 
SI. 4 
S8.4 
«.9 
<«.8 
81.9 
19.6 


Pnutia 
26.1 
«3.7 
«7.» 
«5.5 
<4.0 
>1.8 
19.8 


BdQium 
«1.0 
19.6 
CS.S 

««.s 

<o.8a 

19.9 
16.5 


•"k)J'»ABATIVE     MOBTALITT     OP     MaLES     IN     DIFFERENT     OcCDPATIONB 

1890-4  AND  1900-2,  IN  England  and  Wales 


Oecupation 
1.  Clerp'-     o 
C.  Barru 
S.  Uw  cl, 

4.  Physirian 

5.  Schoolnuuter 

6.  Artut 

11.  Railway  MiipDecr 
It.  Railway  guard 

17.  Seaman 

18.  Dock  laborer 
(1.  Parmer 


t890-»  1900-i                Oeeupation  1890-1  1900-i 

615  515  «t.  Parm  laborer  731  572 

950  799  40.  FrinUr  1«67  985 

1*37  880  45.  Baker  1061  85J 

1118  970  59.  MeUl-worker  lt83  977 

698  599  60.  Bricklayer  1150  864 

900  760  74.  Cotton  manufacturer  ISIS  1037 

934  58i  75.  Lai-e  manufacturer  819  881 

959  779  83.  Coal-miner  1068  84« 

1564  1547  95.  General  laborer  1418  1987 

tll4  1974  105.  Other  occupations  980  837 

651  56« 


99  nut  of  105  occupation*  thow  a  decreaK. 

—  65th  Annual  Report.  Regittrar-Generid  of  England  and  Walet.  1908. 


»  Housing  Conditions,  England  and  Wales 

Total  number  of  occupants  c^ 
taeh  dau  of  ttnemei^ 

Clauqf 
Tenemmlt 

ATumter 

Ptrreniatt  oj 
population 

1801 

1901 

1891 

4.4 

8.8 
11.1 
43.5 
54.9 

100  0 

1901 

Tenementi  of  1  room 
Tenementa  of  1  roomt 
TenemeDts  of  9  roonu 
Tenententj  of  4  rooms 
Tenementi  o(  5  roomt  or  more 

640,410 

t,41fl,617 

3,«t7,t64 

6,814,069 

15,903,965 

507,763 

4,158,644 

3,186,640 

7,130,064 

19,544,734 

1.6 

6.6 

9.8 

41.9 

60.1 

<9,00<,5«5 

94,547,843 

100.0 

—  Section  ii,  Public  Health  and  Social  Conditiona.  Cd.  4071,  London. 
1009;  throughout  an  admirable  and  convenient  review  of  English  aocial 
dy&amius  siacc  1S30. 


150 


SOCIALISM 


Ifi 


savings-banks  deposits.*  And  if  we  consider  the  statistical 
evidence  which  Marx  himself  brought  forward  in  this  con- 
nection the  result  is  the  same.  As  usual,  it  is  scanty  and 
rather  scrappy,  used  as  buttress,  not  foundation.   Appro- 
priately the  examples  are  all  taken  from  England,  "the 
classical    example,  .  .  .  because   it   holds   the   foremost 
place  in  the  world  market,  [and]  because  capitalist  produc- 
tion is  here  alone  completely  developed."  «  There  are  a  cou- 
pie  of  sentences  affirming  that  the  cost  of  living  was  increas- 
ing, based  on  orphan  asylum  records  for  brief  periods.* 
Alongside  Marx's  deductions  from  this  scanty  evidence 
may  be  set  for  comparison  the  results  of  the  British  Board 
of  Trade's  investigations  in  the  average  retail  prices  of 
food  to  workmen's  families  for  a  quarter-century.*    Next 
Marx  turns  to  "official  pauperism,  or  that  part  of  the  work- 
ing class  which  has  forfeited  its  condition  of  existence  (the 
sale  of  labor-power)  and  vegetates  upon  public  alms." 
The  period  from  1856  to  1865.  he  continues,  reveals  a 
steady  growth,  which  would  be  greater  were  it  not  for  the 
fact  that  "the official  statistics  become  more  and  more  mis- 
leading as  to  the  actual  extent  of  pauperism  in  proportion, 
as  with  the  accumulation  of  capitnl,  the  class  struggle,  and 
therefore  the  class  consciousness  of  the  workingmen  de- 
velop, e.  g.,  the  barbarity  in  the  treatment  of  paupers,  at 
which  the  English  press  have  cried  out  so  loudly  during 
the  past  two  years,  is  of  ancient  date."  »   While  the  many 

«  Public  Health  and  Social  Conditions,  section  vi 
«  Capital,  i.  p.  408. 

•  "As  to  the  cheapening  of  the  means  of  subsistence,  the  official  sU- 
tutics.  e.  g.  the  accounts  of  the  London  Orphan  Asylum,  show  an  increase 
m  pnce  of  20  per  cent,  for  the  average  of  the  three  years  1860-62  com- 
pared with  1851-53.  In  the  following  three  years.  1863-65.  there  was  a 
progressive  ruse  in  the  price  of  meat,  butter,  milk,  sugar,  salt,  coals,  and 
a  number  of  other  necessary  means  of  subsistence."  —  /Wd    p  411 

Memorandum  of  Board  of  Trade  on  British  and  Foreign  Trade  and  In- 
dustnal  Conditions.  1903.  p.  216.  Cf.  also  memorandum  in  IUj>ort  of  Poor- 
Law  Commission.  1909.  ix.  Appendix  xxi.  E  i~     y    «/T- 

»  Capital,  i.  p.  412. 


ifjm.i 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


in 


changes  in  the  system  of  relief  naake  accurate  compari- 
sou  impossible,  it  is  worth  noting  that  in  1908  the  average 
daily  number  of  paupers  relieved  in  England  and  Wales 
was  25.7  per  thousand  of  the  population,  as  against  an 
average  of  46.7  in  the  period  to  which  Marx  refers.  That 
this  decrease  in  pauperism  is  not  due  to  any  "barbarity 
in  treatment,"  but  has  gone  along  with  a  steady  increase 
in  the  humanity,  the  discrimination,  and  the  eflSciency  of 
administration,  no  one  familiar  with  poor-law  affairs  will 
deny,  even  though  opinion  be  equally  unanimous  that 
there  is  still  great  room  for  improvement  in  the  treatment 
of  those  in  need  of  public  assistance.* 

So  untenable  is  the  assertion  that  the  condition  of  the 
working  classes  is  growing  worse  that  the  defenders  of  the 
Marxist  faith  to-day  frequently  shift  ground.  Kautsky,  on 
whom  the  mantle  of  Marx  as  chief  expounder  of  the  faith 
of  German  social  democracy  has  fallen,  has  been  particu- 
larly ingenious  in  attempting  to  explain  away  the  master's 
error.*  He  finds  comfort  in  the  contention  that  if  conditions 
in  the  older  capitalist  countries  are  improving,  new  regions 
are  continually  being  opened  up  to  exploitation,  and  that 
in  Italy  and  Russia  and  China,  at  all  events,  misery  is  grow- 
ing^—a  contention  doubtful  in  itself,  apparent  mcrease  in 
misery  frequently  meaning  only  that  the  operations  have 
been  shifted  from  the  obscurity  of  the  overworked  domes- 
tic industry  to  the  blazing  publicity  of  the  factory,  and  of 
no  avail  to  buttress  the  contention  of  inevitable  increasing 
misery  in  th^  lands  where  the  modern  industry  is  well  estab- 
lished.  He  points  also  to  the  increase  in  the  number  of 
women  in  shop  and  factory  work,  failing  to  attach  due  im- 
portance to  the  extent  to  which  this,  as  pointed  out  above, 
merely  represents  a  shifting  of  the  place  of  employment, 
or  is  due  to  the  influence  of  the  emancipation  of  women; 
rings  the  changes  on  the  monotony  of  the  workman's  toil, 

'  Cf.  Report  of  Royal  Commitfion  on  the  Poor-Lawi.  1909,  i-iii. 
«  Benutein  und  dot  tonaldemokratitcke  Programm,  pp.  114-128. 


I 


1  t' 


152 


SOCIALISM 


without  attempting  to  prove  that  it  grows  any  more  mono- 
tonous, and  naively  maintains  that,  after  all.  it  is  only  the 
effects  of  the  tendency  to  increasing  misery  which  have 
been  counteracted,  the  tendency  itself  remaining  unabated 

e^uS  rr  rr^"  ''^  "''^'^  ^"--  A  tendency  the 
ev.1  effects  of  which  are  continually  counteracted  by  tend- 
encies working  m  the  other  direction  i.  no  caL  for 

The  CO  mention  in  which  the  neo-Marxists  find  most 

letter  off  to-day  than  yesterday,  they  are  worse  off  re- 
latively to  their  richer  neighbors,  that  the  gap  between  ril 
and  poor  is  widerthan  ever.  Doubtless  it  is' Wscompari^t 
tt^e  companson  between  one's  self  and  one's  richer  neigh- 
father    '^,^5^rP*"'f»  between  one's  self  and  one's  grand- 
father,  which  is  psynhologically  important;  it  is  this  which 
deterai:n.s  content  or  discontent,  as  men  go.   Doubtless 
too    he  ease  is  not  so  favorable  looked  at  frl  this  stand: 
pomt  so  far  as  may  be  judged  from  cursory  observation 
It  IS   rue  that  "the  real  statement  should  Z,  the  rS^e 
growing  richer;  many  more  people  than  formerly  are  grow- 
ing rich,  the  poor  are  growing  better  off."  >  As  to  what  the 
rate  of  progress  in  each  case  is.  and  which  is  greater,  it  is 
not  easy  to  determine.  It  is  patent  that  there  is  a  g^ate 
monetary  gap  between  a  Rockefeller  or  a  Morgan  a^the 
average  laborer  than  there  was  between  corres^ndi^g  fig! 
ures  a  generation  ago.    But  that  the  rich,  as  a  whole  are 
be.ngenr.ched  faster  than  thepoor.  a.s  a  whole,  is  piibibly 

difficult  t .  reach.  The  recent  estimate  made  by  Professor 

imately  correct.   He  sums  up  his  investigation  of  inLTe 

statement  that  ",f  we  compare  the  period  1898-1902  with 
•  Wright,  OuUine  of  Practical  Sociology.,  p.  345. 


^-"•v" 


lEi/i.^'^mi: 


THE  BIARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


153 


1883  to  1887,  it  appears  that  the  total  income  of  the  nation 
has  increased  not  less  than  88  per  cent,  the  population 
about  IS  per  cent,  and  the  average  income  per  head  not  less 
than  20  per  cent.  .  .     The  part  of  the  national  income 
received  as  wages,  on  the  basis  of  the  figures  given  above, 
appears  to  have  increased  60  per  cent  in  total  or  30  per  cent 
per  wage-earner;  the  part  under  the  review  of  the  Inland 
Revenue  Department  (approximately  the  amount  liable  to 
income  tax)  has  increased  from  35  to  40  per  cent  relatively 
to  the  population."  *  Thus  the  rate  of  increase  among  the 
wage-earners  alone  is  decidedly  greater  than  the  increase  in 
the  nation  as  a  whole.  The  ablest  contribution  made  to  the 
subject  by  any  socialist  writer  is  Mr.  Chiozza-Money's 
study  of  the  distribution  of  British  wealth,  "  Riches  and 
Poverty."  The  worst  he  can  say  is  that  the  working  classes 
are  exactly  at  the  point  where  they  were  forty  years  ago,  re- 
latively to  the  rest  of  the  nation.  In  his  concluding  sum- 
mary he  accepts  Dudley  Baxter's  estimate  "that  in  1867, 
the  population  being  30,000,000,  the  manual  workers,  then 
estimated  to  number  10,960,000,  took  £325,000,000  out 
of  a  total  national  income  of  £814,000,000,"  and  puts  be- 
side this  his  own  computation,  —  very  fair  but  not  erring 
on  the  side  of  optimism,  —  that  the  manual  workers  in 
Britain  to-day,  numbering  15,000,000  out  of  43,000,000, 
take  about  £655,000,000  out  of  a  total  estimated  income 
of  £1,710,000,000.2  That  is,  the  manual  workers  in  1867, 
when  they  were  36.5  percent  of  the  population,  took 
39.9  per  cent  of  the  total  income;  in  1907,  when  they  were 
34.8  per  cent  of  the  population,  they  received  38.3  per 
cent  of  the  wealth;  had  they  still  formed  the  same  pro- 
portion of  the  whole  population  they  would  have  received 
40.1  per  cent  in  the  latter  year.   At  worst,  then,  society 
is  marking  time. 
Nor,  were  the  contention  of  relative  increase  of  misery 

*  National  Progress  in  Wealth  and  Trade  since  1SS2. 

•  Chiozza-Money.  Riches  and  Porerty,  5th  ed.,  p.  SIO. 


l! 


154 


SOCIALISM 


ih! 


mi 


sounder  than  it  is,  could  it  avail  to  rescue  Marx.   The 
"misery"  which  he  forecasts  cannot  be  made  synonymous 
with  "less  luxury."  "Agony,  slavery,  ignorance,  brutality, 
mental  degradation,"  these  are  sheer  absolute  terms  which 
cannot  be  twisted  to  fit  the  situation  of  the  man  whose 
worst  grievance  is  that  his  income  has  only  doubled  while 
his  neighbor's  has  trebled.  In  the  passage  quoted  from  the 
Communist  Manifesto  the  matter   is  removed  beyond 
doubt,  the  comparison  is  explicitly  not  with  other  classes: 
"the  modem  laborer,  instead  of  rising  with  the  progress  of 
industry,  sinks  deeper  and  deeper  below  the  condition  of 
his  own  class."  Asa  German  socialist  protested  in  the  Bern- 
stein debate  at  the  Llibeck  Congress,  with  reference  to 
Kautsky 's  attempts  at  reinterpretation :  "  If  one  alters  one's 
opinion  one  should  have  the  courage  and  the  strength  to 
say,  *We  made  a  mistake.'"  '  The  forecast  was  one  which 
had  much  plausibility  in  the  forties  when  Marx's  life  atti- 
tude was  being  shaped,  and  even  in  the  fifties  and  sixties 
when  English  blue-books  were  revealing  the  inhuman  con- 
ditions which  unregulated  competition  had  produced  in 
many  occupations,  and   providing  Marx  with  the  am- 
munition which  he  was  to  use  with  such  explosive  eflfect. 
Fortunately    the    conditions    revealed    were    transitory 
and  exceptional   in  their  extremity,  and  the  generaliza- 
tions rashly  based  on  these  data  have  failed  to  stand  the 
test  of  time.    Marx  underestimated  both  the  power  of 
the  awakened  conscience  of  the  nation,  expressing  itself  in 
legislation,  and  of  the  organized  self-help  of  trade  union- 
ism, to  lift  the  workingman  above  the  level  of  isolated 
and  unaided  weakness.    And  for  disregard  of  these  and 
other  vital  factors  his  theory  on  this  point  must  now  be  re- 
legated to  the  economic  lumber-room,  whither  so  many 
once-vaunted  doctrines,  orthodox  and  heterodox  alike, 
have  preceded  it. 

»  Eduard  David,  cited  in  Ensor,  Modem  Socialim,  p.  165. 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


US 


(c)  Concentration  and  Centralization 
Marx's  next  attempt  to  divine  from  the  immanent  laws 
of  capitalist  production  the  future  trend  of  industry  has 
met  with  better  fortune.  His  forecast  of  the  concentration 
of  industry  is  the  portion  of  his  theory  which  has  come 
nearest  to  being  confirmed  by  time.  The  doctrine  was 
already  a  familiar  one  in  French  socialist  circles:  Consid6- 
rant  and  Pecqueur  had  both  declared  that  the  superiority 
of  large-scale  production  would  make  industrial  feudalism 
the  only  alternative  to  collective  ownership,  and  Louis 
Blanc  had  found  in  "cheap  prices"  —  the  last  word  in  de- 
fense of  competition—  the  means  by  which  the  great  cap- 
italist would  eat  up  the  small.*  Marx  does  not  develop  the 
theory  m  any  detail:  he  rests  the  forecast  on  the  same 
grounds  as  his  forerunners.   "The  battle  of  competition  is 
fought  by  cheapening  of  commodities.   The  cheapness  of 
commodities  depends,  ceteris  paribus,on  the  productiveness 
of  labor,  and  this  again  on  the  scale  of  production.  There- 
fore the  larger  capitals  beat  the  smaller."  «  In  manufact- 
uring and  agriculture  alike  the  small  producer  is  doomed. 
The  dominating  position  of   the    large-scale  establish- 
ment and  the  tendency  to  combination  among  competing 
or  complementing  establishments  are  among  the  most  con- 
spicuous aspects  of  present-day  mdustrial  development. 
Where  the  product  or  service  is  staple  and  uniform,  the 
process  reducible  to  routine,  the  pace  and  quality  of  work 
subject  to  ready  inspection  and  test,  the  way  is  open  for 
the  large-scale  industry,  and  its  superiority  in  the  diminu- 
tion of  fixed  charges  per  unit  of  product,  the  opportunity 
to  secure  high-priced  but  efficient  management,  improved 
processes,  and  up-to-date  machinery,  the  greater  range  of 
dix-ision  of  labor  and  the  fitting  of  capacity  to  task,  the 
utilization  of  by-products,  the   wider   and  easier  credit, 
the  economies  in  purchasing  supplies  and  selling  output. 
»  VOrganmUion  du  TrMaii,  Paris,  1839.  chap.  iii.     »  CapUd,  i,  p.  894. 


^f^^f:- 


136 


SOCIALISM 


^   I 


enable  it  to  outstrip  its  smaller  rivals.    So  we  find,  in  the 
tinitcd  States,  the  capital  investment  of  the  average  agri- 
cultural implement  factory  grow  from  $2674  in  1850  to 
$220,571  in  1900,  of  the  iron  and  steel  plant  from  $46,716 
to  $858,371,  of  the  ship-yard  from  $5638  to  $69,321,  and 
of  the  meat-parking  establishment  from  $18,824  to  $168,- 
172,  accompanied  in  some  cases  by  a  decrease  in  the  num- 
ber of  plants.!  The  possible  advantages  of  combination  are 
equally  obvious,  whether  the  aim  is  the  suppression  of  com- 
petition, the  realization  of  the  economies  of  single  control, 
or  the  integration  of  all  the  stages  from  extraction  of  the 
raw  material  to  the  delivery  of  the  most  highly  finished 
product.  So  in  extractive  industry  we  see  the  United  States* 
anthracite  coal-supply  controlled  by  a  handful  of  compa- 
nies; in  transportation,  railroad  after  railroad  welded  into 
gigantic  Harriman  or  Hill  or  Canadian-Pacific  systems,  or 
huge  fleets  brought  under  a  single  International  Mercan- 
tile Marine  pennant;  in  manufacturing,  the  output  of  great 
staples,  iron  and  steel,  petroleum,  tobacco,  controlled  by 
afew  great  trusts  or  cartels;  in  banking,  particularly  in  Eng- 
land and  Germany,  amalgamation  proceeding  apace,  and 
even  m  retail  trade  the  chains  of  Lipton  or  United  Cigar 
Company  stores  presenting  the  same  tendency. 

Marx  must  be  gi'  an  frank  credit  for  his  insight  into  the 
tendency  of  the  time.  Yet  even  here  qualification  must  be 
made,  so  serious  as  to  deprive  the  doctrine  of  any  conclusive 
force.  The  extent  to  which  concentration  has  advanced 
should  not  blind  us  to  the  fact  that  in  some  spheres  it  has 
not  been  manifest  at  all,  and  that  even  where  it  is  at  work 
It  has  not  proceeded  with  the  rapidity  or  the  crushing  final- 
ity Marx  predicted. 

The  steady  persistence  of  home  industry,  it  should  first 

be  obser^•ed,  is  not  really  a  contradiction  of  the  Marxian 

prophecy.   It  has  no  independent  strength;  it  is  merely  a 

parasite  on  the  capitalist  system.    It  survives  by  its  weak- 

»  Tuxlflh  Census  of  At  United  Stales,  1800.  vii.  p.  Ixiii. 


'^SIS^^J?^!?^^^!^^^^^!^^^!^^^!^ 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


157 


nesses;  so  long  as  home  workers  in  sweated  trades  are 
unorganized  and  over-numerous,  so  long  as  by  their  em- 
ployment the  entrepreneur  may  save  outlay  for  plant  and 
superintendence  and  escape  the  reh  ictions  of  factory 
legislation,  so  long  will  home  work  continue  to  maintain 
its  equivocal  existence  and  form  the  worst  plague-spot  in 
modem  industry. 

In  bdustrial  establishments  proper,  small-scale  produc- 
tion, while  not  holding  its  own  relatively,  yet  shows  a  vital- 
ity and  persistence  which  give  it  promise  of  long  lease  of 
life.  In  catering  to  the  mcreasing  demands  created  by  the 
expansion  and  refinement  of  wants,  m  auxiliary  services 
attached  to  the  production  of  gross  staples,  in  all  those  lines 
where  personal  judgment  and  artistic  skill  still  count,  the 
small  producer  will  continue  to  find  a  place,  and  an  import- 
ant one.  It  needs  only  a  glance  at  the  city  about  us  or  at 
the  pages  of  the  census  reports  to  realize  that,  m  spite  of  the 
dramatic  emergence  of  the  gigantic  mdustry,  the  great  bulk 
of  the  industry  of  the  western  world  is  still  in  the  hands  of 
small  and  medium  producers.'  In  Prussia  over  five  millions 

>  Classification  of  Indcstbul  Establishments  in  Gebuant 


Small-icale  industries      I-S  pcnon* 
Mrdium-irale        "  8-50 

Luge-tcale  "     over  SO 


Sman-srsle  iodustrie* 
Medium-scsle     " 
Large-Kslc 


Number 

I88«  1808 

<,175.857       1,089.57« 

85,001  138.4M 

8.481  17.041 

Pertoiu  tntat$d 

188«  18SS 

8,<70.404      8,IS1.1<5 

1,100,1  M       1,0O«.O40 

1,584.131       «,«07,S« 


Per  etnl 

188«  1895 

08.8  0«.8 

3.8  a.s 

0.4  0.0 

Ptretta 

188t  1805 

55.1  S0.0 

18.8  «3.8 

M.S  S0.S 


—  StatUtik  det  DevUehm  lUieht.  N.  F.  Bd.  119.  Berlin,  1899. 

Classification  of  Indcbtbial  and  Commkbcial  Estabushmentb  im 

Prcshia 


£j<aUi<Aiii«iii( 


Numbert 


PenonM  EMpto)i»d 


1895  1907  1895  >»<''„ 

l.n«9,ft54  95S.707  1.049.954  955,707 

59^,884  7e7.«00  1,6»8.'405  «.0S8.«36 

108,800  154.SSO  1.390,745  8.809.164 

10,li7  17,*87  l,!il7.085  «,09S.oe5 

.S80  WH  ««1,507  444.580 

191  371      8.-J8.585     710,453 

T743.S.'<fl  1,895.497  5.87«.083  8.S34;9U 

—  Cited  from  Bernstein,  Etnlutionary  Socialism,  p.  57. 
For  France,  compare  Bourguin,  Systcmrs  socialitta  et  I'ivoluiioa  ieo- 
nomique,  p,  33i;  aad  fur  EugLi&d.  OerQateiu.  p.  55. 


Quite  small  (1  person  only) 
Small  (4-5  persons) 
Medium  (8-50      "       ) 
Great  (51-500       "       ) 
Very  Great  (501-1000  persons) 
Giant  (1000  persons  &  over) 


i 


I 

s 

8 


M'j^-h. 


^^. 


■■..fc". 


TTmjs.^r 


^'i>!m(^,  ^ 


/oKk 


158 


SOCIALISM 


't      ! 


£       1 
■5      I 


i      i 


of  the  eij^t  and  a  third  milliona  in  industry  and  commerce 
are  in  establishments  employing  fifty  or  mider;  in  France, 
in  industry  alone,  three  and  three  quarter  millions  out  of 
five  and  a  half;  while  even  in  Great  Britain  the  proportion^ 
have  been  estimated  at  five  and  a  half  millions  in  medium 
and  small  plants  and  three  and  a  half  to  four  millions  in  the 
large.  In  all  these  cases  the  numbers  engaged  in  the  smaller 
and  medium  establishments  together  show  a  decided  in- 
crease over  previous  years.  It  is  evident  thet  while  the 
gre&t  industry  is  absorbing  an  increasing  share  of  the  na- 
tions' labor  and  capital,  at  the  same  time  the  small  indus- 
try, far  from  being  doomed  to  extinction,  is  extending  its 
borders  every  year. 

Nor  is  concentration  by  combination  more  assuredly  in- 
evitable than  the  crushing-out  of  the  small  industry.  The 
economies  of  combination  have  been  greatly  overrated, 
and  include  many  savings  as  accessible  to  large  independ- 
ent concerns  as  to  a  trust. »  It  yet  remains  to  be  proved 
that  a  trust,  without  any  monopoly  of  natural  resources  or 
of  railway  favors  or  of  legislative  influence,  can  crush  out 
competition.  The  ordinary  water-logged  merger,  formed  to 
sell  stocks  rather  than  goods,  cannot  meet  the  competition 
of  up-to-date  rivals  established  by  fresh  capital. 

In  retail  trade  the  case  for  the  man  of  small  means  is  still 
more  favorable  than  in  production.  Here  convenience  in 
time  and  place  and  the  importance  of  personal  unremitting 
attention  bulk  so  large  that  in  most  countries  the  small  re- 
tailer is  not  only  holding  his  own  but  increasing  faster  than 
the  population.*  Deductions  muft  be  made  for  the  cases 
where  tiie  independence  is  illusory,  where  the  small  estab- 
lishment is  a  tied  house  for  example,'  — a  circumstance 
which  does  not  any  the  more  involve  the  psychological  atti- 
tude of  the  proletarian,  however;— but,  these  aside,  it  is 

I  Cf.  C.  J.  Bullock,  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  xv,  pp.  167  acq. 

*  Cf.  Sombart.  Vereinfur  tozial  Politik,  1899. 

•  Cf .  Kautaky,  Dot  Erfurter  Proaramm,  preface,  and  pp.  16-31  •  Va"dcr« 
velde,  op.  cit.,  p.  48. 


I 


'L^ 


-SL^mm-j&i! 


.ti> 


tits^'  -•** 


THE  M\RXUN  ANALYSIS 


159 


clear  that  commerce  shows  no  signs  of  the  exclusive  dom- 
ination of  the  large  establishment. 

But  it  is  in  agriculture  that  the  fsixialist  prophecies  have 
been  most  completely  falsified  by  time.  The  small  farm 
dominates  the  situation  to-day  beyond  question.  Marx's 
condemnation  of  sniall-seale  farming  as  "worthless  and 
utterly  irrational"  and  Engels'  "absolute  certainty  that 
capitali.Ht  production  will  out-distance  the  powerless,  an- 
ti(iuated  small  fui  u  as  a  railway  train  a  wheelbarrow," 
have  proved  most  unlucky  forecasts.'  The  enthusiastic 
visions  of  the  application  of  capitalist  methods  to  farming, 
of  bonanza  farms,  electric  plows,  and  platoons  of  trained 
and  specialized  workers,  cease  to  win  credence.  The  world 
over,  the  vv.. diet  is  practically  the  same ;  here  the  small  farm 
gains  slightly  at  the  expense  of  the  large,  there  it  loses 
slightly,''  but,  as  a  frank  American  socialist  says,  "One 
thing  is  certain,  if  any  such  changes  are  taking  place  in 
either  direction,  they  areof  such  extreme  slowness  as  to  par- 
take of  the  nature  of  those  astronomical  calamities  which 

'  Engels,  "  Die  Bauernfrage  in  Frankreich  und  D<"«tschland,  Neue 
Zeit,  1893,  i,  303;  David,  Sociaiiimiu  und  LandwirUchaJt,  i,  p.  <to7. 


•  GERMANY 


Under  2  hectares 

80-100 
Over  100 


Under  1  hectares 
i  Hi 
20-100 
Over  100 


NCUDER  OP   FaBMS 


1882 
Number         Per  rent 


1805 
Number        Per  rent 


3.061,831 

1,908,012 

281.510 

24.991 

5.276,344 


58.03 

36.16 

5.34 

0.47 

100.00 


1882 
Ileriare.i 
1,825.9:« 
li.UH.GOl 
i>.!Mm,170 
7.780.20.1 

31,808,972 


Per  rent 

5.73 

38.75 

31.09 

24.43 

100.00 


3.2.'M5,.367 

2,015.122 

281.767 

25.061 

5.558,317 

Area 

1895 

Jlrriarr* 

1.808,444 

i:»,(l27,8.i9 

9.8r,i).H;»7 

7.K;il.801 

32.317.!*.  1 


58.23 

36.25 

5.07 

o.:5 

100.00 


—  Statisiik  da  DcuUchcn  iicicAj,  N.  F.  L-:.- 


Per  rent 

5.56 

40.01 

30.35 

2K»8 

100.00 

112,  p.  11. 


160 


SOCUUSM 


r.  ■.  - 


5rJ7 


I  I 


are  discussed  by  mathematicians  rather  than  of  those  social 
transformations  that  urge  men  to  revolution."  ' 


FRANCE 

NUMBKR 

or  Fabiu 

188i 

18M 

Number 

PercerU 

Number 

Percent 

Tinder  1  bectaie 

it,16H,000 

SH.ti 

K.t.'M.OOO 

39.21 

l-IO 

8.6SA.0U0 

46.46 

9.618,000 

45.90 

1(M0 

•I 

TW.OOO 

H.81 

711,000 

12.47 

Over  40 

M 

148.000 

i.M 

139.000 

2.42 

A,7(W,000 

100.00 

5,703,000 

100.00 

Abea 

188« 

18'J? 

Hectarrt 

Percent 

fledaree 

Percent 

Under  1  hecUre 

1,083,800 

t.\9 

1,S«7,S00 

2.68 

1-10 

*• 

11.366.300 

S2.0K 

ll,it44,700 

2?,77 

10-40 

•4 

14.845,600 

«9.»3 

14,313,400 

28.09 

Over  40 

«• 

«8,<96,100 

44.96 

22,493,400 

45.56 

40,581,100 

100.00 

49.378.8t1 

ioo.ou 

—  Statietique  agricole  de  la  France  de  1892,  pp.  363  et  eeq. 
Cited  in  Bourguin,  op.  eil.,  pp.  324-325. 


Under  10  acres 

10-50 

50-100 

100-500 

500-1000 

Over  1000 


UNITED  STATES 
1880    Per  cent     1800 


139.241 
1.03^323 
1,032,810 
1.695.083 
75.972 
28..'«78 
4,008.i  j7 


3.5 

25.8 

25.8 

42.3 

1.9 

0.7 

ido.o 


150,194 
1,168,327 
1,121,485 
2.008,604 
84.395 
31.546 
4.564,641 


Per  cent    1900    Per  cent 


3.3 

25.6 

24.6 

44.0 

1.8 

0.7 

1000 


268,446 

1,664,797 

1,366.167 

2.290.424 

102..547 

47,276 

5,739.657 


4.7 

29.0 

2f  S 

39.9 

1.8 

0.8 

100.0 


—  Twelfth  Ceneut  of  the  United  State*,  1900,  v.  p.  xlv. 

GBBAT  BRITAIN 
"In  1895  the  Hnuill  holdings  of  from  1  acre  up  to  50,  although  two 
thirds  of  the  whole  number,  covered  only  15  per  cent  of  the  cultivated 
area.  Large  farms,  exceeding  300  acres  in  extent,  occupietl  27  per  cent 
of  that  area.  The  medium-sized  holdings,  lying  between  50  and  300 
acres,  proved  to  be  the  most  characteristic  form,  .  .  .  embracing  some 
58  per  cent  of  the  whole.  The  chanK<-s  since  1895  ...  are  not  sufficient 
materially  to  disturb  these  ratios.  The  numbers  both  in  the  smallest  and 
largest  sized  groups  are  somewhat  fewer,  while  a  small  but  distinct  de- 
velopment of  holdings  cx>curs  in  the  group  of  me<lium-sized  areas."  — 
Report  of  Committee  on  SmcU  Holdings:  lOOit,  Cd.  3277,  p.  3;  see  also 
App.  xvm,  XIX. 


»  Simons,  The  American  Farmer,  pp.  101-lM. 


THE  MARXIAM  ANALYSIS 


161 


Marx's  unlucky  prophecy  arose  from  an  overhasty  gen- 
eralization, an  uncritical  assumption  on  the  |>art  of  a  man 
more  familiar  with  the  reading-room  of  the  British  Must-um 
than  with  the  farmyard,  that  agriculture  must  show  the 
same  all-decisive  economies  of  large  production  as  manu- 
facturing industry.  The  part  taken  bv  the  peasantry  in 
crushing  the  French  revolts  of  '48  made  the  socialist  eager 
to  see  this  barrier  to  success  swept  away;  the  preoccupa- 
tion with  England,  the  one  f'^imtry  where  on  the  surface 


lit  *ween  industrial  and  agri- 

countr'    vhi'ch  on  a  priori 

■  ',  ,\   ,.i  t'       tvelopment  in 

,'   pt    -  i'      '       for  sweeping 

1  .  .       1 1  .!( '     gencies, Eng- 

Closer  study 

intagcs  of  large 

"ee  in  farming, 

u    u.    .  than  is  the  case 

o'lu,  ■  hii  much  less,  owing 

!  .i  flui'-    -ter  of  the  of)era- 


4r 


■  (    ISU 


(;<■;. 


there  appeared  to  be  a  oar 
cultural  evolution,  an'      i 
grounds  was  held  to  p      '. 
store  for  the  rest  of  1  "•  v. 
generalizations.  U'r.  .i^ 
lish  data,  all  made  '   '      i« 
of  realities  has  de  •      ; .  -l  ,   . 
production  are  rtdii'i  -i  i- 
and  are  offset  by  gr  a'-i' 
in  manufacturing.'  Mac  i- 
to  the  sea.sonal  and  discoi. 
tions  and  the  lack  of  uniformity  in  the  material :  of  the  ma- 
chinery available  the  most  efficient  is  usually  either  within 
the  means  of  the  small  farmer,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  traveling 
threshers,  may  be  hired  for  the  short  time  needed.   It  is 
science  rather  than  machinery  that  has  caused  the  revolu- 
tion in  farming  —  improvements  in  rotation  of  crops,  in 
application  of  fertilizers,  in  celibating  pests,  etc. ;  and  these 
advances  are  nowadays,  largely  by  cooperative  and  .state 
action,  brought  withm  tiie  small  farmer's  reach.   Nor  do 
the  economies  of  the  division  of  labor  bulk  large;  the  oper- 
ations of  agriculture  are  as  a  rule  not  contemp    ant-ous  as 
in  manufacturing,  but  successive,  so  that  ther-    "  not  the 
same  inducement  to  specialization.  And  as  'or  marketing, 
the  point  where  the  small  artisan  is  most  helpless  in  com- 

»  Cf.  especially  David,  SocialLsmiu  und  LatulwirUchaft.  i,  Die  Betrieba- 
frogc. 


i  11 


-1' 


'hjsm 


162 


SOCIALISM 


I 


petition  with  the  large  factory,  the  small  farmer  is  aided 
by  the  staple  character  of  his  product  and  to  some  extent 
by  codperative  buying  and  selling.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  small  farmer  has  positive  advantage  in  the  superior 
stimulus  of  self-interest,  and  in  the  utilization  of  the  fam- 
ily's labor,  especially  in  those  odds  and  ends  of  "chores" 
which  make  the  difference  between  profit  and  loss. 

Faced  by  the  undeniable  fact  that  the  small  farmer 
sturdily  declines  to  be  annihilated,  some  socialist  writers 
have  sought  proof  of  indirect  concentration  in  the  increase 
of  tenancy  and  mortgages.'  It  is  undeniable  that  tenancy 
is  rapidly  increasing  in  the  United  States,*  for  example,  but 
it  is  equally  clear,  from  an  examination  of  the  figures,  that 
this  movement  does  not  represent  a  transformation  of  own- 
ers into  tenants  —  for  the  owners  are  increasing,  and  in- 
creasing faster  than  the  farm  population  —  but  an  eleva- 
tion of  agricultural  laborers  into  tenants.*  Similarly  mort- 
gages —  less  a  bugbear  in  the  Western  States  than  a  score 
of  years  ago  —  must  be  regarded  not  so  much  as  signs  of 
the  omnivorousness  of  the  money-lending  octopus  as  indi- 
cations of  "a  struggle  of  the  former  tenant  to  purchase  an 
equity  in  his  holding,"*  or  a  means  of  expansion  and  devel- 
opment. 

Simons,  in  his  study  of  the  American  situation,  follows 

Kdutsky's  lead  in  placing  this  elusive  concentration  still 

elsewhere.    The  industrial  process,  he  asserts,  must  be 

'  Cf.  Ghent,  Benevolent  Feudalum,  p.  21. 


Per  cent  operated  by 

Cash  Share 

Ovmers  Ten.     Ten. 

74.5  8.0      17.5 

71.6  10.0       18.  i 
047      13.1       it.i 


Number  oprrtUrd  by 

Total  No.  Caiih  Share 

of  farms  Owner*     Tenants      Tenants 

1880   4,008.907         «,984,.'«>6     322,357       702,244 

1890   4,504,041         3,200.728     454,059        840,254 

1900   5,739.057        3.713..'{71     752,920     1,27.1,;U50 

—  Tweljlh  Crnms  of  the  United  .Elates,  1900,  v,  p.  689. 

•  Cf.  Twelfth  Cen.iu.i  of  the  I'liited  Staten.v.hxvVi.V.  F.  Einerick,  "Agri- 
cultural Disc-ontent  in  the  rnittd  States,"  Political  Science  Quarterly, 
xi,  p.  003;  unil  Simons,  op.  ell.,  p.  114. 

*  Bogart,  "  Farm  Owncrsliip  in  llu-  United  Staies,"  Journal  of  Political 
Economy,  xvi.  p.  201.  Cf.  Bourguin,  p.  213. 


THE  MARXUN  ANALYSIS 


168 


looked       as  an  organic  who!*;;  an  article  is  not  produced 
until  in  t;  e  hands  of  the  consumer;  accordingly,  "railroads 
and  steamships,  with  elevators  and  cold-storage  plants 
and  packing-houses,  are  as  much  a  part  of  the  necessary 
equipment  for  agricultural  production  as  wagons,  teams, 
granaries,  and  bams";'  concentration  is  proceeding  in 
these  auxiliary  processes,  which  have  the  whip-hand  of  the 
farmer,  so,  virtually,  concentration  is  proceeding  in  agri- 
culture. This    ingenious    confusion  of    dependence  and 
interdependence  gives  a  very  far-fetched  and  untenable 
interpretation  to  the  concept  of  concentration;  as  to  the 
actual  relations  of  these  interdei>endent  factors,  Simons's 
pessimism  overlooks  the  possibility  -  and  the  reality  — 
of  political  intervention  in  control  of  railroad  or  elevator 
rates,  without  any  abandonment  of  individual  ownership. 
The  stubljorn  persistence  of  the  independent  fanner, 
'■  his  inconsiderate  reluctance  to  play  the  vanishing  r6le 

prescribed  for  him  in  the  swialist  drama,  the  Downfall  of 
Competition,  is  a  reality  which  no  plc^s  or  subtle  rcinter- 
pretation  can  conceal.  On  this  rock  all  comprehensive 
sociali.st  schemes  must  split.  The  farmer  and  Hegelian 
dialectics  follow  different  paths.  His  pioneer  individualism 
may  mellow  wi  the  passing  of  the  frontier  and  the  spread 
of  city  and  country  intercourse,  but  there  is  not  .  e  slight- 
est indication  in  America,  any  more  than  in  France  or 
Germany,  that  the  will-o'-the-wisp  lures  of  tho  cooperative 
commonwealth  are  wiling  him  from  the  certainties  of  indi- 
vidual ownership.' 

Closely  interwoven  with  the  th-ory  of  the  concentration 
of  industry  is  the  contei.tion  as  to  the  coniinj:  centraliza- 
tion of  wealth  and  the  disappearance  of  the  middle  class. 

•  Simons,  op.  rit.,  p.  110.  ,,         #•      •  i 

«  "The  gn-«t  bfx'.y  of  thi-  niral  population  p.re  immune  |from  sooial- 
islic  disaffeotion").  ".  .  .  The  adv.K-atos  of  the  new  ereed  ha.e  nm.Je  lit- 
tle headway  amonK  the  rural  classes  of  Europe,  whether  peasant  farmers 
or  farm  lalwrers."  —  Veblen.  Theory  of  Butines*  Enterprise,  pp.  aiS-S.'iO. 


.  i 


164 


SOCIAUSM 


More  and  more,  Marx  contends,  the  elas.»  strufe<»le  is  sim- 
plified into  a  contest  between  two  great  camps,  proletariat 
and  bourgeoisie.  "The  lower  strata  of  the  middle  class," 
he  declares  in  the  Communist  Manifesto,  "the  small 
tradespeople,  shopkeepers,  and  reiwd  tradesmen  gener- 
ally, the  handicraf tmen  and  peasants,  all  these  sink  gradu- 
ally into  the  proletariat."  »  The  mortality  in  the  warfare 
of  competition  is  not  confined  to  the  lower  middle  classes; 
the  upper  strata  are  reduced  to  a  handful.  Capitalist  ex- 
propriates capitalist,  wealth  is  gradually  centralized  in 
the  hands  of  a  few  magnates.  When  the  day  of  revolution 
dawns  the  vast  coordinated  masses  of  the  proletariat  will 
stand  face  to  face  with  a  mere  remnant  of  plutocrats.* 

The  fallacy  in  the  contention  that  the  small  capitalist, 
whether  in  agriculture,  manufacture,  or  commerce,  was 
doomed  to  disappear,  has  already  been  noted.  Equally  se- 
rious for  the  Marxian  prophecy  is  the  failure  to  recognize 
that  even  within  the  fields  where  concentration  has  pro- 
ceeded  apact>,  concentration  of  industry  is  not  synonym- 
ous with  centralization  of  wealth.  Marx  does  not  clearly 
distinguish  the  two  conceptions,  and  his  haziness  has  de- 
scended to  ^iost  of  his  disciples.'  There  is,  it  is  apparent 

•  Page  24. 

•  !•  ■  •  J  ■  "F'f  "•nt™*'""  o»  capitals  already  formed,  destruetion  of  their 
ind.vKlual  mdependenee.  expropriation  of  capitalist  by  capitalist,  trans- 
formation  of  many  small  into  few  large  capitals.  This  process  .liffers  from 
the  former  ,n  th.s.  that  .t  only  presupposes  a  change  in  the  distribution 

of  capiUl  already  to  hand,  and  funrtioninK This  is  centralization 

prorK-r.  as  distmct  from  ac-cumulalion  and  cncentration.  That 

whu- ,  ,s  now  to  l>e  expn,priate,l  is  no  l.mRer  the  laborer  working  for  him- 
self, but  the  capitalist  exploiting  many  laborers.  This  expropriation  is 
accomp!.she<l  by  the  immanent  laws  of  capitali.st  production  itself,  by 
the  «.ntrali/,ation  of  capital.  One  capitalist  always  kills  many  The 

S"  30,"  487      ""'"'"'^  number  of  the  magnates  of  capital." -fapiva/.  i. 

•  Ct.  the  Krfurt  Pr.>gramme:  "The  economic  development  of  capitalist 
society  leads  inevitably  to  the    downfall  of   small-scale  in.hi.lry 
The  means  of  pr,Kluetion  b«-ome  the  monopoly  of  a  relatively  small 
number  of  capital.sts  and  great  landowners." 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


165 


^1 


on  reflection,  no  necessary  connection  between  changes  in 
the  form  and  size  of  the  industrial  unit  best  suited  for 
production  and  changes  in  the  property  relations  corre- 
spond'ng.  The  utmost  centralization  of  wealth  is  possible 
without  change  in  the  size  of  the  units  of  production  or 
in  the  technical  processes  adopted;  a  recognition  of  this 
fact  is  implied  in  the  unsuccessful  attempt  of  the  socialist 
to  show  that  while  the  small  farm  continues  to  dominate 
agriculture  the  real  control  has  passed  tc  the  mortgage- 
holder.  On  the  other  hand,  extreme  concentration  of  in- 
dustry is  possible  without  centralization  of  ownership. 
Socialism  itself  professes  to  offer  a  system  in  which  the 
utmost  possible  concentration  and  integration  of  industry 
is  to  be  compatible  with  at  least  an  approach  to  equality  in 
individual  wealth.  The  existing  social  order  has  evolved 
a  more  practical  instrument  for  securing  concentration 
without  centralization,  an  instrument  which  anticipates 
and  renders  unnecessary  the  colleetivist  solution  — 
namely,  the  joint-stock  company.  The  division  of  owner- 
ship which  the  joint-stock  company  involves  makes  it 
possible  tor  the  man  of  small  means  to  acquire  an  interest 
in  concerns  which  otherwise,  on  account  of  their  magni- 
tude and  their  inaccessibility,  would  be  hopelessly  out  of 
reach. 

Nor  are  we  dealing  with  mere  possibilities.  In  France, 
the  shares  of  the  Bank  of  France  were  held,  in  1908,  by 
31,24n  shareholders,  of  whom  10,381  held  one  share,  27.784 
less  than  eleven  shares,  3100  from  eleven  to  fifty,  252 
from  fifty  to  one  hundred,  and  113  over  one  hundred;  '  the 
shareholders  in  the  six  great  railways  recently  numbered 
over  700,000,  and  holders  of  government  annuities  over 
two  million.^  The  attempt  at  control  of  the  English  retail 
provision  trade  by  the  Lipton  stores  was  instanced  above 
as  one  form  of  concent  rat  ion.  yet  the  number  of  share- 

'  Monetary  Timet,  xliii,  no.  i. 

*  Neymarck,  Jour.  Royal  Stat.  Sac.,  li,  p.  540. 


f^Wf^^^^''c.n,^^''', 


-t^WW'h::^'^^^--WTi: 


168 


SOCIALISM 


holders  in  this  company  fully  ten  years  ago  was  74,262.* 
In  the  United  States  the  number  of  additional  holders  who 
have  bought  into  the  leading  railway  and  industrial  cor- 
porations, at  the  bargain  prices  recently  prevailing,  is 
currently  estimated  at  200,000.  The  arrangements  made 
by  important  industrial  corporations,  as  for  example  the 
United  States  Steel  and  the  Westinghouse  Company,  to 
enable  their  employees  to  purchase  shares  on  favorable 
terms,  indicate  a  still  further  extension  of  the  tendency. 
The  benefits  of  the  movement  are  not  unqualified.  The 
owner  of  a  few  shares  of  stock  in  a  huge  railroad  or  indus- 
trial corporation  is  practically  voiceless  in  its  management, 
and  the  extent  to  which  the  common  gains  may  be  sluiced 
into  private  channels  is  only  too  apparent  in  everyday 
financial  record.  With  the  progress  of  publicity  and  of 
stricter  company  law,  however,  these  drawbacks  are  in 
great  part  being  removed.  It  is  sufiicient  to  emphasize 
again  that  the  extension  of  the  joint-stock  company  has 
made  centralization  of  wealth  by  no  means  a  necessary 
corollary  of  concentration  of  industry. 


#'■ 


if 


(d)  Crises 

The  goal  of  Marx's  analysis,  it  has  been  pointed  out, 
was  to  show  that  by  its  own  immanent  laws  capitalism  was 
preparing  at  once  its  own  downfall  and  the  advent  of 
socialism.  Of  outstanding  importance  in  this  pronounce- 
ment as  to  the  coming  bankruptcy  of  capitalism  is  the 
theory  of  crises.  It  is  not  altogether  clear  what  amount 
of  significance  is  attached  to  crises  in  the  Marxian  system, 
whether  they  are  to  be  looked  on  merely  as  indications  of  the 
inability  of  the  bourgeoisie  to  rule  the  Franken.stein  they 
have  created,  or  whether  they  have  a  causal  force,  resulting 
in  the  growing  disorganization  of  industry  and  the  disap- 


>  Bernstein,  op.  eit.,  p.  48. 


/^7f^^  '^^.M 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


l«7 


pearance  of  capitalism  after  the  last,  worst  spasm,'   At 
all  events,  the  crisis  presents  in  the  most  acute  and  cul- 
minating  form,  Engels  declares,  the  contradirtions  which 
mark  the  existing  order  and  in  the  dialectical  scheme  of 
things  insure  its  downfall.    Put  in  terms  «rf  thesis,  ant  ithe- 
sis,  and  synthesis,  the  evolution  of  industrial  Mtd  prop«-rty 
relations  runs  as  follows:  in  the  days  of  handicraft,  indi- 
vidual means  of  production  corresponded  to  individuiU 
ownership  of  the  product;  to-day,  production  is  coiipcrat- 
ive,  interdependent,  socialized,  but  the  pro<luct  is  appro- 
priated by  the  individual  capitalist.  To-morrow  the  solu- 
tion is  effected;  to  .socialized  production  there  is  added 
socialized    appropriation    and   division    of   the    product. 
Meantime  the  contradiction  between  socialized  produc- 
tion and  individual  appropriation  exi.sts.  It  is  reflected  in 
the  antagonism  between  proletariat  and  bourgeoisie.    It 
represents  it-self,  with  the  extension  in  range  and  intensity 
of  competition, -as  the  contradiction  lietween  the  organ- 
ization of  production  in  the  individual  workshop  and  the 
anarchy  of  production  in  society  generally.  It  is,  however, 
in  the  crisis  that  this  contradiction  is  manifested  in  its 
clearest  and  most  explosive  form:  hero  the  mode  of  pro- 
duction breaks  out  in  revolt  against  the  mode  of  exchange, 
the  property  relation.    Engels  follows  his  analysis  by  a 
vivid  bit  of  description:  "The  whole  industrial  and  coin- 
nuTcial  world  ...  is  thrown  out  of  joint  once  ever>'  ten 
years.   Comm.  rce  is  at  a  standstill,  the  markets  are  glut- 
ted, products  acrumulate,  as  nniltitudinous  as  they  are 
unsaleable,  hard  cash  disapi^ars,  credit  vanishes,  factories 

«  "Th.-  pcmomic  an.l  industrial  .l.-veloprnent  U  poinj?  on  with  suoh 
rapi.litv  that  b  crisis  may  <HXur  within  u  comparativl  ih..rt  tuno  The 
r..nirn-,s8.  Uiorefore.  impres»«-s  upon  th.-  prolotanat  of  all  .lasses  the 
imp.-n.tiv.-  n.-.rssitv  of  loaminR.  as ,lass-con«-ious <itiz<-ns.  how  to admin- 
ist.-r  tho  business  .if  th.-ir  r.-st>ertive  eountrios  for  tlu-ir  (-ommon  r.kkI 
R..solu*i.m  of  the  Internafi.mal  So.ialist  ConRn-ss.  180fi.  quote.!  in 
R.Tnstein.  op.  c,t..  p.  80.  Cf.  however.  Kautsky.  Bfrnstcin  uud  das  «a. 
dem.  Programm,  p.  44. 


^1 


:^:-i?*fc^ 


.-H 


.  miKmmk^^jjm^ysfi^Ai^j'J:.  :^^»!' 


188 


SOCIALISM 


are  closed,  the  mass  of  the  workers  are  in  want  of  the 
means  of  subsistence,  because  they  have  produced  too 
much  of  the  means  of  subsistence;  bankruptcy  follows  upon 
bankruptcy,  execution  upon  execution.  The  stagnation 
lasts  for  years;  productive  forces  and  products  are  wasted 
and  destroyed  wholesale,  until  the  accumulated  mass  of 
commodities  finally  filters  off,  more  or  less  depreciated  in 
value,  until  production  and  exchange  gradually  begin  to 
move  again.  Little  by  little  the  pace  quickens.  It  be- 
comes a  trot.  The  industrial  trot  breaks  into  a  canter, 
the  canter  in  turn  grows  into  the  headlong  gallop  of  a 
perfect  steeplechase  of  industrj',  commercial  credit  and 
speculation,  which  finally,  after  breakneck  leaps,  ends 
where  it  began —in  the  ditch  of  a  crisis.  And  .so  over  and 


"  1 


over. 

In  the  writings  of  Marx  and  Engels  the  main  theory  as 
to  the  cause  of  crises  is  that  they  are  phenomena  of  over- 
production due  to  the  diminished  consuming  power  of  the 
masses.  The  anarchy  that  prevails  in  production  is  put 
forward  as  a  .secondary  cause.  The  over-production,  or 
under-consumption,  theory  of  crises  already  expounded 
by  Sismondi  was  adopted  by  Engels  afterwards  in  various 
writings  of  the  early  forties,  though,  the  latter  contended, 
there  was  an  essential  distinction  between  the  two  ver- 


^' 


«  Socialum.  Utopian  and  Seientifir,  pp.  64-65.  Ci.  the  Communitt 
Manifesto,  p.  ill:  "For  mony  s  d«-a<le  pwt  the  hi§tory  of  industry  and 
commerce  in  but  the  history  of  n-volt  of  modem  productive  forces  against 
mixlcm  productive  c-<m<lilions,  nRainst  the  property  nintions  that  are 
the  condi'.ionn  for  the  existence  of  the  l)ourf^)i.sie  and  of  its  nile.  If  is 
enough  to  mention  the  <ommer<iul  criw-s  that  by  their  p<TitHlical  return 
put  on  its  trial,  each  time  more  threateningly,  the  existence  of  the  entire 
bourgeois  society,  .  .  .  paving  the  way  for  mort-  extensive  an.l  more 
destructive  crises."  The  .same  hectic  view  of  history  in  general  which 
makes  Marx  and  Engels  .see  in  "all  past  history  the  history  of  class 
slruggles"  and  makes  their  philosophy  of  history  an  explanation  of  the 
cauneof  "all  social  changes  and  political  revolutions,"  here  crops  out  in 
the  ( onccplion  that  the  history  of  commerrv  and  industry  is  .synonymoua 
with  the  reconl  of  the  catastrophes  in  commerce  and  industry. 


Li^^^^mm'twsmm^  r:. 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


160 


sionfl.'  In  the  Communist  Manifesto  the  same  explanation 
is  offered:  "In  these  crises  there  breaks  out  an  epidemic 
that  in  all  earlier  epochs  would  have  seemed  an  absurdity 
—  the  epidemic  of  over-i)roduction."  *   In  the  work  from 
which  the  passage  quoted  in  the  preceding  paragraph  is 
taken,  Enpels  finds  the  immediate  source  of  the  evil  in  the 
fact  that  "the  extension  of  the  markets  cannot  keep  pace 
with  the  extension  of  |)roduction." »  More  explicitly  Marx 
identifies  lack  of  markets  with  workers'  poverty:  "The 
consuming  iiower  of  the  laborers  is  handicapi)ed  partly  by 
the  laws  of  wages,  partly  by  the  fact  that  it  can  be  exerted 
only  so  long  as  the  lalwrers  can  Vie  employed  at  a  profit 
for  the  capitalist  class.    The  last  cause  of  all  real  crises 
always  remains  the  iM)verty  and  restricted  con.simiption  of 
the  masses  as  ctimpared  to  the  tendency  of  capitalist  pro- 
duction to  develop  the  productive  forces  in  such  a  way 
that  only  the  absolute  jmwer  of  consumption  of  the  entire 
society  would   l)c   their  limit."*    The  conquest  of  new 
markets  abroad  may  afford  temporary  relief,  but  the  evil 
day  is  only  iMistimned. 

The  tluH)r>'  that  crises  are  due  to  the  inability  of  the 
consuming  power,  or  rather  the  purchasing  power,  of  the 
masses  to  keep  pace  with  the  increase  of  the  productive 
powers  of  society,  assumes  that  condition  of  steadily  in- 
crt'Jising  fwverty  which  we  have  seen  is  cf)ntrary  to  the 
realities  of  six-ial  development.  So  long  as  the  wants  of 
men  are  capable  of  infinite  expansion,  there  can  Ik*  no 
question  of  the  ability  of  society  as  a  whole  to  increase 
its  desires  to  equal  whatever  tremendous  increase  of  pro- 
ducts an<l  services  may  l>e  effected;  in  the  (pmntitative  as 
aside  from  the  value  as|)ect,  over-production  is  clearly 

>  Landmark*  of  Scientifir  Socialism  (Anti-Duhring).  translated  by 
I^wis.  p,  t.17. 

'  Communixt  Manifrstn,  p.  il. 

•  Soeialiim.  I'tofiiiin  and  Scientific,  p.  64. 

'  Capital,  iii,  |>.  568. 


170 


SOCIALISM 


->'■ 


impossible,  whatever  may  be  said  as  to  mis-production, 
the  direction  of  the  productive  activities  into  the  wrong 
channels.  Nor,  still  looking  at  society  as  a  whole,  can  there 
be  any  possibility  of  over-production  in  the  sense  that  the 
sum  total  of  its  values  offered  on  the  demand  side  is  loss 
than  the  total  values  on  the  supply  side,  since  these  totals 
must  balance.    Grant,  further,  the  assumption  that  the 
purchasing  power  of  one  section  of  society,  the  wage-cnrn- 
ing  classes,  is  decreasing  relatively  to  that  of  the  other 
classes  of  society.  Why  should  such  a  decrease  necessitate 
a  breakdown?  Could  it  not  be  offset  by  an  increase  in  the 
expenditure  of  the  rich  on  conspicuous  waste,  or  in  the 
amount  of  production  goods?    Such  developments  might 
be  morally  reprehensible,  might  be  futile  and  contradict- 
ory perversions  of  means  into  ends,  but  they  would  not 
be  economically  unworkable  —  the  only  aspect  Marx  cares 
to  consider.'    Trouble  would  come  not  in  the  change  of 
the  relative  proportion  of  mass  and  of  class  purchasing 
power,  but  in  lack  of  equilibrium  between  the  demand  and 
the  supply  for  each  kind  of  consumption  or  production 
goods.   It  is  clear  also,  as  Marx  recognizetl  later,  that  there 
is  something  wrong  with  a  theory  which  finds  in  decreased 
purchasing  power  of  the  masses  an  explanation  of  crises, 
which  uniformly  occur  after  |)oriods  of  expansion  and  pro- 
sperity during  which  wages  have  been  at  their  highest. 

'  a.  in  Tugan-Baranowsky,  op.  fit.,  pp.  209  lO}.,  a  detailed  examina- 
tion of  the  piwuibility  of  a  constantly  increasing  prop<jrtion  of  production 
goods.  Tugan-Baranowsky's  contention,  p.  210,  that  the  tendency  to  a 
falling  rate  of  pn)6t  is  considercfl  in  the  Marxian  system  an  independent 
■ource  of  the  break-up  of  capitalism,  does  n<»t  seem  tenable;  the  falling  rate 
of  pro6t  acts  only  indirectly  by  stimulating  product  ion  and  accelerating 
the  pace  at  which  it  outruns  consumption.  Equally  secondary  is  the 
significance  Marx  attaches  to  the  exten.sion  of  cre<lit.  C'f.  Capital,  iii,  p. 
522.  Marx  has  the  less  room  for  denying  the  outlet  thmugh  extension 
of  production  g(x»<is,  since  cLsewhere  he  refers  to  the  constant  ncc«'-«sity  of 
scrapping  machinery,  long  iM-fore  physically  worn  out,  to  ke<>p  pjicr  with 
the  progress  of  invention,  as  an  important  fact  and  itself  the  material 
basis  of  comracrciid  crises.  —  Capital,  ii,  p.  211. 


■■■''^1^. 


THE  MARXUN  ANALYSIS 


171 


Engels'  emphasis  on  the  anarchical  character  of  capital- 
ist prfMluction  as  the  cause  of  crises  has  more  plausibihty. 
recognizing  as  it  does  that  the  problem  is  one  of  mw-pro- 
duction.  whereas  Marx's  theory  is  siznply  a  variant  of  the 
hoary  fallacy  of  orer-production.  Hi*-  propliecy  of  mcreas- 
ing  intensity  of  crises  has,  however,  not  l^een  borne  out. 
Many  forces  have  worked  for  the  attenuation  rather  than 
the  aggravation  of  crises  since  Marx's  days  -  the  better 
organization  of  credit;  the  growing  fluidity  ..nd  inter- 
nationalism of  capital  and  of  commer-e.  which  make  the 
whole  world  feel  the  shock  but  prevent  its  being  fata   in 
any  one  spot;  the  greater  reserve  of  accumulated  wealth, 
lessening  the  importance  of  temporary  depression;  the 
regulation  of  production  ny  trust  and  cartel  and  the  better 
distribution  of  effort  caused  by  trade-union  opposition  to 
over-tinie.»  In  confirmation  may  be  cited  Tugan-Baranow- 
sky's  interesting  demonstration  that  the  recent  crises  in 
Great  Britain  have  been  foUoweil  by  prdctically  none  of 
those   fluctuations  in  the  number  of   marriages,  in   the 
death-rate,  in  paui»crism,  and  in  criminality  which  char- 
acterized the  crises  of  the  second  and  third  quarters  of  the 
nineteenth  century.'  The  much-abused  capitalist  system 
is  showing  great  vitality,  and  seems  in  as  little  danger  of 
death  from  crisis-convulsions  as  from  capitalist  apoplexy 
or  proletariat  anemia. 

(e)  Summary 

The  Marxian  analysis  of  the  existing  industrial  system 
has  now  been  passed  in  brief  review.  The  outstanding 
feature  of  Marx's  <loctrinc.  the  distinction  which  has  made 
it  the  intellectu.al  backlxine  of  socialism  the  world  over,  is 
his  conception  of  capitalism  as  the  necessary  forerunner, 
the  unwilling  serv-ant.  of  socialism.    Unlike  the  Utopian, 

>  Ct.  HimrRnin.  o/>.  rit..  p.  340.  ,  ,  ,    .        ■     p     i     j 

•  Studicn  zur  Theorie  und  (le^chichte  der  HandeUknten  m  England. 


17« 


SOCIALISM 


i 


he  maicM  no  charge  that  men  have  been  waiting  time  on 
the  wrong  track,  makes  no  u|j|>oal  to  thrir  reamin  or  their 
sense  of  justice  to  attempt  at  once  to  shunt  the  car  of  state 
back  on  the  right  track.  Capitalism  itself  is  harnessed  in 
socialism's  service.  "What  the  bourget.isie  produces  above 
all  is  its  own  grave-diggers." «  It  is  this  frank,  if  provisional, 
acceptance  of  the  exi.sting  order  which  keeps  him  for  no 
little  distance  in  theoretical  harmony  with  the  cla.ssicul 
economists.  He  accepts  in  large  part  their  statement  of  the 
laws  that  regulate  competitive  economy  —  their  laws  of 
value,  their  theory  of  falling  profit,  their  d<><-trine  of  ground 
rent.  He  even  anticipates,  like  the  jjood  Manchesterian 
he  is,  no  serious  interference  with  these  sacred  laws,  so 
long  as  capitalism  lasts.  Then,  however,  comes  the  parting 
of  the  ways,  and  Marx  reveals  to  his  quondam  companions 
the  inevitable  and  unwelcome  outct)me  of  those  very  laws 
and  tendencies. 

Every  tenet  in  tlte  closely -jointed  creed  has  its  place 
in  the  demonstration  of  this  inevitable  development 
toward  socialism.  The  materialist  conce(»tion  of  history, 
we  have  seen,  reveals  the  present  epoch,  equally  with  past 
ages,  as  dominated  by  a  class  stniggle,  l)etwcen  ex[)loiting 
bourgeoisie  and  exjiloited  proletariat.  The  theories  of 
value  and  surplus  value  lay  bare  the  source  of  this  ex- 
ploitation. The  increasing  nn'sery  of  the  proletariat, 
brought  to  sore  straits  by  the  pressure  of  the  industrial 
reserve  army,  is  finally  to  rouse  it  to  revolt  against  the 
capitalist  system.  Tlieir  training  within  the  ranks  of 
capitalism  itself,  capitalism  which  has  di.sciplined,  united, 
organized,  and  educated  them  for  its  own  greater  gain, 
gives  their  revolt  assurance  of  success.  The  centralization 
of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  a  comparatively  few  magnates 
also  serves  to  make  resistance  difficult  and  appropriation 
easy.  The  ever-recurring  crises  firoclnirn  and  hasten  the 
bankruptcy  of  competition.  The  concentration  of  industry, 
•  Communitt  ilanifct  <,  p.  34. 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


178 


the  ■ociaiizalioii  uf  production,  make  it  possible  for  a 
collectivist  commonwealth  to  operate  the  means  of  pro- 
duction once  they  are  seized.   All  things  work  together 
for  good.    "That  which  is  now  to  be  expropriated,"  Marx 
declares  in  a  classic  pa-ssage,  "is  no  longer  the  lalwrer 
working  for  him.self.  but  the  capitalist  exploiting  many 
laborers.  This  expropriation  is  accomplished  by  the  action 
of  the  immanent  laws  of  capitalistic  production  itself,  by 
the  centrali.".alion  of  capital.    One  capitalist  always  kills 
many.    Hand  in  hand  with  this  centralization,  or  this 
expropriation  of  many  capitalists  by  few,  de\eU>p.  on  an 
ever-extending  scale,  the  cotipcrative  form  of  the  labor 
process,  the  conscious  technical  application  of  science,  the 
methodical  cultivation  of  the  soil,  the  transforn.alion  of 
the  instruments  of  lal)or  into  instruments  of  lalior  only 
usable  in  conuuon,  the  economizing  of  all  means  of  prcnluc- 
tion  by  their  use  as  the  means  of  j)roduction  of  combined, 
socialized  labor,  the  entanglement  of  all  peoples  in  the 
net  of  the  world-market,  and  with  this,  the  international 
character  of  the  capitalist  rt'gime.    Along  with  the  con- 
stantly diminishing  nuinl>er  of  the  magnates  of  capital, 
who  usurp  and  monoixjlize  all  advantages  of  this  process 
of  transformation,  grows  the  mass  of  misery,  oppression, 
slavery,  degradation,  exploitation;  but  with  this  too  grows 
the  revolt  of  the  working  class,  a  class  always  increasing 
in  numbers,  and  disciplined,  united,  organized  by  the  very 
mechanism  of  the  process  of  capitalist  production  itself. 
The  monopoly  of  capital  becomes  a  fetter  upon  the  mode 
of  production,  which  has  sprung  up  and  flouri.shed  along 
with  and  under  it.    Centralization  of  the  means  of  pro- 
duction and  socialization  of  lalwr  at  last  reach  a  point 
where   they   l)ecome   incompatible   with   their  capitalist 
intepiment.   This  integument  is  burst  asunder.    The  knell 
of  capitalist  private  property  sounds.   The  expropriators 
are  expropriated."  ^ 

»  Capital,  i.  p.  487. 


J 


A^ 


MICROCOPY   RESOLUTION   TEST   CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No    2) 


1.0 


I.I 


Ui 

|2.8 

IIIIM 

us, 

U£ 

13.2 

112.2 
11^ 

1^ 

1^ 

1^ 

IS 

u& 

11^ 

1.8 


1.25 


1.4 


1.6 


J  .APPLIED  INA^GE     Inc 

^  1653  East   Mem  SIrMI 

'^Z  Rocnester,    New   ^rork        U609       USA 

=  (716)   «82  -  0300  -  Pnone 

=  (716)   288  -   5989  -  fa« 


m 


174 


SOCUUSM 


',■'1 

'■i    '. 


41  ^ 


•TjiH': 


The  sweep  of  vision,  the  loftiness  of  tone,  the  seer's 
assurance  of  this  passage  make  it  the  fitting  dimax  of 
Marx's  exposition.   Weak  as  his  doctrine  has  been  shown 
to  be  in  many  of  its  essential  points,  taken  as  a  whole  it  is 
an  achievement  of  the  first  order.  To  his  task  of  analyzing 
and  forecasting  the  development  of  capitalist  industry 
Marx  brought  an  acute  and  powerful  logic,  wide  reading, 
unfathomable   powers  of   vituperation,  a   keen   insight, 
especially  for  the  weaknesses  of  human  nature,  unflagging 
energy  and  enthusiasm  and  self-sacrifice.  To  him  the  world 
in  general  owes  a  relentless  exposure  of  the  seamy  side  of 
our  boasted  civilization,  a  helpful  if  exaggerated  —  per- 
haps helpful  because  exaggerated  —  recognition  of  the 
importance  of  the  economic  factor  in  history,  a  protest 
against   the   shallow   optimism   and   barren   traditional 
deductive  reasoning  that  marked  much  of  the  current 
economic  theory,  and  an  attempt  to  get  close  grip  on 
reality  and  seize  the  import  of  the  main  forces  and  the 
broader  currents  of  industrial  development.   The  debt  of 
socialists  for  the  creed  and  the  rallying  cry  he  gave  them, 
for  his  assurance  that  the  stars  in  their  courses  were  fight- 
ing for  them,  is  of  a  magnitude  that  even  the  devotion  of 
millions  of  adherents  can  scarcely  repay. 

Yet  to-day  many  a  socialist  is  coming  to  recognize  that 
the  carefully  constructed  system  is  crumbling.  With  much 
that  was  enduring,  much  that  was  transitory  went  to  its 
building.    Marx  was  steeped  in  prejudice,  too  deeply  in- 
fected by  the  revolutionary  spirit  of  his  surroundings  in 
the  forties,  to  be  able  to  take  a  calm  and  impartial  survey. 
His  Hegelian  training  hindered  as  much  as  it  helped  his 
attempt  to  read  the  past  and  forecast  the  future.  It  gave 
his  thinking  an  a  priori  and  teleological  cast  which  pre- 
vented his  making  an  objective  cause-and-effect  study  of 
tendencies.   The  conception  of  development  as  a  dialectic 
process  led  to  exaggeration  of  the  r61e  of  class  struggle  and 
to  attempts  to  deduce  the  future  trend  of  industry  not  so 


3%t*, 


H^^^^^gS^ 


THE  MARXIAN  ANALYSIS 


175 


i 

I 


much  from  social  fact  as  from  a  philosopher's  formula. 
The  whole  contention  of  the  immanent  necessity  of  cap- 
italist development  along  the  lines  he  forecast  was  thus 
metaphysical  rather  than  scientific  in  its  origin.  His  data, 
the  records  of  English  factory  development  in  the  middle  of 
the  century,  were  too  narrow  and  special  for  sound  general- 
ization.  And  even  his  tools,  the  current  economic  concepts 
which  formed  the  necessary  counters  of  discussion,  failed 
him  at  times.     It  is  an  odd  instance  of  the  revenge   of 
environment  on  the  most  rebellious  of  its  children  that  this 
iconoclast  who  railed  at  the  economic  man  himself  has 
given  us  a  view  of  history  which  is  merely  the  economic 
man  writ  large,  multiplied  into  a  class ;  that  this  critic  who 
rarely  had  a  good  word  for  the  English  economists  picks 
up  their  discarded  labor-value  theories  and  falling  rate 
of  profit  forecasts;  that  this  scofifer  at  the  a  priori  dogma- 
tism of  bourgeois  theorists  is  most  prone  to  abstractions 
and  uncorrected  hypotheses;  that  this  scorner  of  individu- 
alism and  laissez-faire  is  himself  tinctured  with  individual- 
ism to  the  point  of  anarchy  in  his  view  of  the  industrial 
organization  of  the  future,  and  is  led  astray  in  his  pro- 
phesying by  his  failure  to  recognize  the  extent  to  which 
governmental  and  trade-union  action  would  affect  con- 
clusions based  on  the  assumption  of  laissez-faire.  In  spite 
of  himself,  Marx  was  the  last  of  the  classical  economists. 
The  conclusive  evidence  of  the  futility  of  a  doctrine  is 
its  abandonment  or  reinterpretation  by  its  quondam  up- 
holders under  stress  of  contact  with  reality.  This  evidence 
the  socialists  of  the  revisionist  brand  have  been  heaping 
up  in  abundance  the  past  few  years.    In  Germany  itself 
many  of  the  most  progressive  of  the  socialist  leaders  have 
been  brought,  some  by  sobering  contact  with  political 
responsibility,  some  by  candid  facing  of  theoretical  dif- 
ficulties, and  all  by  the  unconscious  drift  of  time,  to  aban- 
don many  of  the  most  distinctive  of  the  master's  doctrines.  ^ 
'  Cf.   Vcbien,   Quarterly    Joumd  of    Economics,   ssi,   pp.  299  *f-7.j 


176 


SOCIALISM 


The  philosophical  foundations  have  shifted:  the  teleology 
and  the  dialectics  of  Hegelianism  have  more  or  less  uncon- 
sciously been  replaced  by  Darwinian  norms  of  thinking, 
marked  by  "no  trend,  no  final  term,  no  consummation; 
the  sequence  is  controlled  by  nothing  but  the  vis  a  tergo 
of  brute  causation,  and  is  essentially  mechanical."  '  The 
tendency  is  to  hark  back  to  the  idealism  of  the  Utopians, 
to  base  the  appeal  of  socialism  once  more  on  eternal  just- 
ice and  the  rights  of  man,  to  raise  the  cry  of  "Back  to 
Kant"  and  deduce  the  collectivist  commonwealth  from 
the  needs  of  human  personality.  The  materialistic  con- 
ception of  history  is  qualified  into  colorlessness,  the  class 
struggle  more  and  more  retired  into  the  background.  T^e 
value  and  surplus  value  theories  are  abandoned  or  their 
importance  minimized,  the  doctrine  of  increasing  misery 
repudiated,  the  inevitable  march  of  concentration  and 
centralization  confronted  by  unconforming  fact.  Slowly 
but  surely  the  Marxian  theory  is  disintegrating. 

Kampffmeyer,  Changes  in  the  Theory  and  Tactics  of  German  Social  Demo- 
cracy; Boudin,  Theoretical  System  of  Karl  Marx;    and  bibliographical 
appendix  to  this  volume,  for  a  survey  of  the  revisionist  literature. 
»  Veblen,  op.  eit.,  p.  804. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 

When  we  turn  from  analysis  of  capitalism  to  panacea  pro- 
IlS^le  find  in  latter-day  as  contrasted  wxth  U  opmn 
Ssm  at  once  a  greater  uniformity  in  the  ge^^^^^^^^^ 
acter  of  the  socialist  organization  which  i   to  replace  the 
S^ing  order,  and  a  much  greater  unwillmgness  to  a^. 
tTpt  presentation  in  detaU.  The  two  ten<lenc-s  a^ 
noTLonnected;  the  comparative  absence  of  detail  brings 
the  widespread  agreement  on  essentials  into  prommence 
ptcUcally  all  th^  important  socialist  organizations  of 
EuCe  and  America  look  forward  to  the  collective  owner- 
ship and  operation  of  the  means  of  production  and  ex- 
change" and^he  allotment  of  reward  by  authority.  Private 
o^ership  is  retained  so  far  as  consumption  goods  are  con- 
Tned  b'lt  vanishes  for  the  factory,  the  mine  and  per- 
^pTL  soil.  Competition  as  the  motor  o^e  of  indu^t^ 
gives  way  to  unified  control  and  social  zeal.   The  era  ol 
"all-round  harmonious  perfection"  dawns. 

When,  however,  we  proceed  to  look  into  what  this  pr^ 
oosal  eniails,  to  inquire  what  solution  the  socialist  has  to 
oSer  fof the  obvious  and  seemingly  fatal  difficvdties  which 
^he  collectivist  ideal  involves,  a  most  unwonted  hush  and 
reticence  falls  on  many  quarters  of  the  socialist  camp.  The 
w    hh  of  detail  which  characterizes  the  P-^^-h  f_ 
Fourier  or  Cabet  vanishes  in  the  Marxian  or  Fabian  treat 
ment    The  stress  which  the  Utopian  laid  on  constructive 
Tffort  is  shifted  in  the  one  case  to  critical  analysis -the 
It  work  of  the  great  protagonist  of  -  entifi-ocialisra 
is  called  not  Socialism  but  Capital- and  m  the  other  to 
the  s  udv  of  tactics.  This  reluctance  of  the  sociali.^  lead- 
ers.  particularly  those  of  the  generation  now  passmg  away. 


J 


^;!j^<^-vm^«^ 


178 


SOCIALISM 


II 


Mi! 


to  grapple  with  the  administrative  problems  their  own 
proposals  involve,  has  several  roots.  It  is  in  part  an 
implication  of  the  theoretical  position  of  the  modern 
socialist,  in  a  minor  degree  it  is  a  matter  of  temperament, 
and  to  varying  extent  it  is  a  dictate  of  party  strategy. 

It  is  in  the  first  place  an  outcome  of  the  changed  view 
of  the  forces  that  mould  society  and  the  manner  in 
"  hich  radical  industrial  transformations  come  about.  The 
kingdom  to  come  is  not  to  be  an  artificial  structure  built 
in  accordance  with  the  careful  plans  and  specifications 
of  social  architects,  but  an  organic  growth,  the  outcome  of 
social  forces  now  at  work.   In  the  more  extreme  form 
this  position  approaches  fatalism:  capitalism  is  doomed, 
socialism  is  its  inevitable  heir;  it  is  unnecessary,  when  the 
stars  in  their  courses  are  fighting,  to  waste  words  painting 
the  desirability  of  the  socialist  organization  or  seeking  to 
show  that  it  is  practicable.   "WTiat  is  proved  to  be  inevit- 
able is  proved  not  only  to  be  possible  but  to  be  the  only 
possible  outcome."  ^    This  fatalist  attitude,  however,  is 
neither  sound  nor  consistent.  It  is  not  sound,  since  it  rests 
on  an  analysis  of  the  trend  of  industrial  development  which 
has  not  stood  the  test  of  time,  an  analysis  marked  by 
keenness  and  insight  in  many  of  its  details,  but  perverted 
by  cramping  preconceptions  and  by  an  underestimate  of 
the  competitive  system's  powers  of  adjustment  and  adap- 
tation. And  were  this  trend  inevitable,  it  would  be  so  only 
because  of  the  conscious  cooperation  and  striving  of  a 
majority  convinced  of  the  feasibility  of  the  new  industrial 
system.    Nor  is  the  attitude  consistent.    There  has  been 
in  Marxism  from  the  beginning  a  contradictory  strain,  a 
recognition  of  the  necessity  of  working  through  the  con- 
scious will  of  man  and  not  merely  relying  on  the  blind 
working  of  unconscious  industrial  forces.  ^    Every  act  of 

'  Kautsky,  Das  Erfurter  Programm,  8th  edition,  p.  137. 
•  On  this  dualism  in  Mara,  cf.  Goldscheid,  Verelendungs-  oder  Mdio- 
Totiorutheorief 


rnkM 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


179 


propaganda,  every  attempt  to  spread  the  good  tidmgs 
among  the  unconverted,  witnesses  a  behef  that  the  kmg- 
dom  can  come  only  when  men  have  been  persuaded  of  the 

better  part. 

The  change  in  theoretical  standpoint  results  m  a  less  ex- 
treme attitude  when  the  reluctance  to  discuss  the  problems 
of  a  socialist  commonwealth  is  defended  on  the  ground 
that  it  is  impossible  to  forecast  the  future  in  detail.'  This 
position  is  a  strong  one:  Marx's  scornful  refusal  "to  write 
the  kitchen  recipes  of  the  future"  reveals  an  mcomparably 
sounder  historic  sense  than  the  Utopian  readiness  to  map 
out  the  minutest  details  of  the  future  Icaria  or  Atlantis. 
Yet  it  is  by  no  means  a  satisfactory  answer.  There  is  here 
no  question  of  meticulous  details,  no  impossible  demand 
for  a  rigid  and  carefully  scheduled  forecast  of  the  exact 
structure  of  the  cooperative  commonwealth  on  April  1. 
2500  A.  D.,  no  request  for  a  prophecy  of  the  ultimate  out- 
come and  far-reaching  reactions  of  socialist  innovations. 
It  is  merely  a  legitimate  and  absolutely  necessary  demand 
for  a  frank  facing  of  the  obvious  difficulties  and  inconsist- 
encies inherent  in  the  collectivist  proposal.   The  point  is 
of  primarv  importance.  It  is  not  enough  that  the  socialist 
can  point  to  grievous  ills  in  existing  society.   That  such 
evils  exist  only  the  blind  and  callous  can  deny.  Want  and 
wretchedness,  misery  and  injustice  and  crime  are  hard 
realities,  appalling  in  their  extent  and  persistence.   Here 
there  is  no  dispute.   The  divergence  comes  with  the  rem- 
edy proposed.   The  socialist  agitator,  logically  or  illogic 
ally  determined  to  help  out  providence,  alias  the  inevit- 

1  "Toeach  epoch  its  task;  do  not  let  us  presume  to  n-sulate  the  future; 
let  us  be  content  to  occupy  ourselves  with  the  present."  -  Dcv.Ue,  Pnn- 

cipes  Soeialistes,  p.  39.  »  •„  „ 

"We  know  as  little  as  our  opponents  how  matters  will  work  out  in  a 
future  society,  and  were  we  to  paint  it  never  so  finely,  our  children  8 
children  would  not  turn  to  our  prophesyings,  but  would  act  as  the  time 
and  circumstance  dictated." -Calwer.  Eirrfiihmng  inden  Sociahsmui. 
p.  68. 


wmz,^.^s^^:Ji^^^'^^ 


-A^ 


180 


SOCIALISM 


able  laws  of  capitalist  development,  seeking  to  win  men 
to  his  cause,  must  convin.-e  them  that  the  new  order  will 
work,  and  will  work  better  than  the  old,  that  it  does  not 
threaten  evils  intolerably  worse  than  those  we  know.   It 
is  a  question  of  what  organization,  what  social  instrument, 
will  best  subserve  the  interests  of  society,  a  question  which 
must  be  decided  every  time  a  change  in  our  social  or  polit- 
ical structure  is  proposed,  decided  fallibly,  decided  with  a 
human  inability  to  foresee  the  complications  and  unlocked- 
for  reactions  the  future  holds  in  store,  but  decided  w..n 
the  best  light  we  have.   Kautsky  would  be  quite  right  in 
refusing  to  comply  with  what  he  considers  the  parallel 
demand  "to  write  the  history  of  the  next  war."  »    But,  to 
take  a  closer  parallel,  he  would  be  quite  wrong  had  he 
been  leading  a  campaign  for  a  complete  discarding  of  the 
present  instruments  of  warfare,  demanding  the  scrapping 
of  Dreadnoughts  in  favor  of  aeroplanes  or  triremes,  or  the 
substitution  of  vril  or  bows  and  arrows  for  gunpowder, 
and  yet  declined  to  discuss  their  comparative  utility  in 
the  more  probable  contingencies  of  warfare. 

It  is  evident  that  there  are  other  explanations  for  the 
socialist  emphasis  on  destructive  criticism  rather  than  on 
constructive  planning.  Marx's  negative  temperament  led 
him  to  underrate  the  difficulties  of  administration,  while 
his  revolutionary  sympathies  involved  an  overrating  of  the 
power  of  the  proletariat  to  extemporize  their  solution. 
The  collapse  of  the  Commune  uprising  in  1871  partly  dis- 
illusioned Marx  and  Engels  on  this  point.'    With  their 

'  Op.  cit.,  p.  140. 
J.7^^^^l  to  Communw<  Manifesto.  1888.  and  Civil  War  in  France, 
1871.  p.  15.  Cf.  Wells,  ATew  Worlds  for  Old,  pp.  227-232.  "Marx's  life 
was  the  life  of  a  recluse  from  affairs,  an  invalid's  life;  a  large  part  of  it 
was  spent  round  and  about  the  British  Museum  reading-room,  and  his 
conception  of  socialism  and  the  social  process  has  at  once  the  spacious 
vistas  given  by  the  historical  habit  and  the  abstract  quality  which  comes 
with  a  divorce  from  practical  experience  of  human  government  As 

a  consequence  Marx,  and  still  more  the  early   'Marxists'  were,  and  are. 
neghgent  of  the  necessities  of  government  and  crude  in  their  notions  of 


l¥:  'f^r'^;^m\^:T 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


181 


successors  the  attitude  has  been  a  matter  of  tactics  more 
than  of  temperament  or  principle.  It  is  easiest  to  unite  on 
a  negation.  Let  the  word  go  forth  to  all  the  discontented, 
to  every  one  who  nurses  a  grievance  against  society,  that 
all  misery  and  oppression  are  to  be  abolished  and  a  state 
of  "all-round  harmonious  perfection"  established.  Forth- 
with each  may  give  reins  to  his  imagination,  construct  his 
private  heaven,  may  see  his  ill  redressed  or  his  merits 
recognized,  himself  or  his  pet  crotchet  exalted,  without 
any  of  the  confusing  doubts  a  definite  programme  v/ould 
occasion.  Socialism  offers  every  man  a  blank  check  on 
happiness,  to  fill  out  at  his  own  sweet  will,  untroubled  by 
fears  as  to  the  extent  of  the  funds. 

There  are,  however,  some  signposts  available  to  aid  in 
the  inquiry  into  the  working  of  a  collectivist  state.  Scat- 
tered here  and  there  through  the  works  of  Mart  and  Engels 
themselves  there  are  brief  pronouncements  on  specific 
points.  On  other  details  a  dim  and  fitful  light  has  been 
shed  by  the  debates  and  votes  of  party  congresses.  The 
leader  of  the  German  socialist  party,  August  Bebel,  years 
ago  presented  a  more  comprehensive  programme  in  a  widely 
circulated  volume.'  Less  authoritative,  to  be  accepted 
only  in  so  far  as  it  logically  deduces  the  necessary  implica- 
tions of  the  collectivist  demand,  is  the  work  of  Schaffle,^ 
written  by  an  opponent,  but  so  impartial  as  to  have  won 

class  action.  .  .  The  constructive  part  of  the  Marxist  programme  was 
too  slight.  It  has  no  psychology.  Contrasted,  indeed,  with  the  splendid 
destructive  criticisms  that  preceded  it.  it  seems  mdeed  trivial.  It  dia- 
gnoses a  disease  admirably  and  then  suggesU  rather  an  incantation  than 
a  remedy.  .  .  .  It  faces  that  Future,  utters  the  word  'Democracy,  and 
veils  its  eyes.  ...  So  long  as  this  mystic  faith  in  the  crowd,  this  vague 
emotional,  uncritical  way  of  evading  the  immense  difficulties  of  organizing 
just  government  and  a  collective  will  prevails,  so  long  must  the  socialist 
project  remain  not  simply  an  impracticable,  but  in  an  illiterate  badly 
crgBTiized  community,  even  a  dangerous  suggestion.  I  as  a  socialist  am 
nr.:  blind  to  these  possibilities." 

»  Women  under  Socialism,  1883,  translated  from  the  33d  German  edi- 
tion by  De  Leon,  1904. 

«  The  Quintessence  of  Socialism,  1875,  translated  by  Bosanquet. 


182 


SOCUUSM 


widespread  socialist  sanction,  and  not  without  important 
influence  on  the  shaping  of  socialist  ideals.  At  ail  times 
the  Bellamys  and  the  Gronlunds  have  rushed  in  where 
Marx  and  Enpels  feared  to  tread.'  And  particularly  of 
late  years  the  recognition  of  the  inconsistency  of  the  pro- 
gramme of  barren  silence,  or  the  sobering  reflections  in- 
duced by  an  approach  to  political  power,  have  led  many 
of  the  ablest  of  Continental  and  American  socialists*  to 
endeavor  to  offer  a  solution  of  some  of  the  outstanding 
problems.  A  more  optimistic  note  as  to  the  possibility 
even  of  forecasting  the  future  is  struck:  the  suggestions 
that  are  made,  declares  Simons,  "are  in  no  way  parts  of  a 
hard  and  fast  scheme  ...  to  be  followed  regardless  of 
consetiuences  or  the  course  of  economic  development.  But 
the  ability  of  interpretation  which  enabled  the  socialist 
to  foretell  the  disappearance  of  the  competitive  system 
from  the  time  of  its  birth,  entitles  him  to  speak  with  more 
than  ordinary  authority  concerning  the  future."'  The  fact 
that  the  majority  of  these  writers  belong  to  the  reformist 
group  results,  as  will  be  noted  later,  in  almost  as  numerous 
deflections  from  the  Marxian  standard  in  this  field  of  or- 
ganization as  in  the  fields  of  analysis  or  tactics. 

The  first  problem  that  faces  the  socialist  —  how  catch 
the  hare  —  is  primarily  a  question  of  tactics,  but  its  solu- 
tion largely  determines  the  character  and  extent  of  the 
difficulties  facing  the  collectivist  commonwealth  at  the 
outset.    Is  the  capitalist  to  be  expropriated  without  in- 

'  Bellamy,  Looking  Backward,  1887;  Gronlund,  The  Co-operative  Com- 
monwealth, 1886. 

*  Cf.  Jaures,  "Organisation  sooialistc,"  in  Retue  Socialiste,  1895-96; 
Renard,  "Regime  sorialiste."  in  Revue  Socialiste,  1897-98;  in  book  form, 
1903;  Atlanticus,  Ein  Blick  in  den  Zukunftataat,  1898;  Vandervelde, 
CoUectivi.im  and  Industrial  Revolution,  translated  by  Kerr,  1901;  Simons, 
American  Farmer,  1902;  Kautsky.  Social  Revolution,  1902.  translated  by 
A.  M.  and  May  Simons;  Anton  Menger,  Xeue  Staatdehre,  1902;  Sparge, 
Socialism.  1906;  Wells.  New  Worlds  for  Old,  1908;  Hillquit,  Socialiimin 
Theory  and  Practice,  1909. 

»  Op.  cit.,  1906  edition,  p.  205. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


183 


demnity,  or  to  be  offered  compensation?  The  earlier  hot- 
blooded  demand  for  the  expropriation  of  the  robber  rich 
witliout  one  jot  of  payment  is  now  heard  more  rarely  in 
the  socialist  camp.  This  attitude  was  consistent  with  the 
catastrophic  view  of  social  evolution,  the  view  that  the 
revolution  would  be  "an  affair  of  twenty-four  lively  hours, 
with  Individualism  in  full  swinj,'  on  Monday  morning,  a 
tidal  wave  of  the  insurgent  proletariat  on  Monday  after- 
noon, and  Socialism  in  complete  working  order  on  Tues- 
day." »  But  in  these  post-Darwinian  days  this  natve  expec- 
tation is  untenable.  With  the  growing  admission  that  the 
new  order  must  be  established  by  degrees,  it  is  seen  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  expropriate  certain  capitalists  and 
leave  the  rest  in  undisturbed  jjossession.  Further,  forcible 
expropriation  without   indemnity   would  be   impossible; 
even  were  the  great  majority  of  the  manufacturing  pro- 
letariat won  over  to  the  policy,  they  could  scarcely  hope 
to  overcome  the  determined  resistance  of  the  millions  of 
farmers  and  the  urban  middle  class.- 

If  the  other  horn  of  the  dilemma  is  then  unanimously 
chosen,  and  the  capitalists  bought  out  at  one  hundred  cents 
on  the  dollar,  how  is  the  condition  of  the  poorer  classes  one 

«  G.  Bernard  Shaw,  Fahinn  Essays  (American  eaition).  p.  160. 

'  Cf.  the  leading  Belgian  socialist:  "Evidently  if  this  expropriation  is 
not  to  meet  with  insurmountable  difficulties,  it  must  needs  be  that 
eapitalistie  concentration  should  have  arrivp<l  at  its  completion;  that 
personal  property  should  exist  only  in  memory:  that  the  immense  ma- 
jority of  the  citizens  shall  be  composed  of  proletarians  who  have  'nothing 
to  lose  but  their  chains.'  But,  even  on  this  supposition,  the  realization 
of  which  seems  at  least  distant,  there  is  no  doubt  that  of  all  forms  of 
social  liquidation,  expropriation  without  indemnity,  with  the  resistance, 
the  troubles,  the  bloody  disturbances  which  it  would  not  fail  to  pro<luce. 
wo\ild  lie  in  the  end  the  most  costly.  'We  do  not  at  all  consider,"  wrote 
Engels  in  1894,  'the  indemnification  of  the  proprietors  as  an  impossi- 
bility, whatever  may  be  the  circumstances.  How  many  times  has  not 
Kari  Marx  expressed  to  me  the  opinion  that  if  we  could  buy  up  the  whole 
crowd  it  would  really  be  the  cheapest  way  of  relicvinR  ourselves  of  them.' " 
—  Vandervelde,  Collecticism  and  Industrial  Retolulion.  translated  by 
Kerr,  p.  155. 


Urn 


:«J>-i^ 


184 


SOCIALISM 


'in 


'V|j 


jot  improved?  There  will  be  heaped  up  an  immense  debt, 
a  fierpctual  mortgage  on  the  collective  industry;  rent  and 
interest  will  still  remain  a  first  charge,  still  extract  "sur- 
plus labor"  from  the  workers.  Even  if  collcctivirft  man- 
agement were  to  prove  every  whit  as  efficient  as  capital- 
istic, the  surplus  for  division  among  the  workers  would 
not  be  increased  beyond  that  available  to-day.  Indeed, 
it  would  be  diminished.  To-day  a  great  part  of  the  revenue 
drawn  in  the  shape  of  rent  and  interest  is  at  once  recap- 
italized, and  makes  possible  the  maintenance  and  exten- 
sion of  industry.  A  socialist  regime  could  not  permit  the 
paid-ofT  capitalists  to  utilize  their  dividends  in  this  manner, 
increasing  their  grip  on  industry;  they  would  Iw  comi)elled 
to  spend  it  in  an  orgy  of  consumption.  All  provision  for 
capital  extension  would  therefore  have  to  come  out  of 
what  was  left  of  the  national  dividend.  The  last  state 
would  be  wc-se  than  the  first. 

Recognizing  this,  various  socialists  have  proposed,  once 
tbo  capital  has  been  appropriated,  to  put  on  the  screws 
by  imposing  income,  property,  and  inheritance  taxes  which 
will  eventually  wipe  out  all  obligations  against  the  state.' 
In  other  words,  they  would  imitate  the  humanitarian 
youngster  who  thoughtfully  cuts  off  the  cat's  tail  an  inch 
at  a  time,  to  save  it  pain.  Doubtless  there  are,  within  the 
existing  order,  great  possibilities  of  extension  of  such  taxes 
for  the  furtherance  of  social  reform.  Possibly  our  withers 
would  be  unwrung  if  the  socialistic  state  confiscated  the 
mult.iriilHonaire's  top  hundred  million  by  a  progressive 
tax.  But  the  fortunes  of  the  multimillionaires,  spectacular 
as  they  are  and  politically  dangerous  as  they  are,  form 
but  a  small  proportion  of  the  total  wealth.  So  soon  as  the 
tax  cane  to  threaten  the  confiscation  of  the  small  income 
as  well  as  the  great,  the  matter  would  again  become  one 
of  relative  physical  force.* 

'  Cf.  Fabian  Essays,  p.  176;  Kautsky.  Socio/  Revolution,  p.  121. 

'  "The  whole  tendency  of  civilization  and  of  free  institutions  is  to  an 


•    'Til 


.■'■1  -:.''-''i 


'^•'J.^JV^f'j^rS?*-^ 


THE  MOD£RN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


183 


n 


On  the  threshold  lies  the  question  of  the  unit  of  organ- 
ization. That  the  scoik!  of  the  complex  and  large-scale 
industrial  system  to  which  the  six-ialist  commoiiwciillli 
would  fall  heir  must  be  state-wide,  njost  modem  socialists 
are  agreed.  That  it  must  lie  state-<lirected  is  a  position 
that  has  been  reached  with  more  difficulty.  In  fact,  the 
founders  of  the  Marxian  faith  looked  forward  with  assur- 
ance to  the  time  when  the  state  would  disappear.  For  the 
state,  Engels  declared,  is  merely  an  instrument  employed 
by  the  exploiting  classes,  slave-owners,  feudal  lords,  and 
bourgeoisie,  which  have  dominated  at  various  times,  to 
keep  the  exploited  classes  in  subjection.  It  follows  that 
when,  with  the  coming  of  socialism,  classes  die  out  and 
class  wars  cease,  the  state  will  have  lost  its  reason  for 
existence.  "State  interference  in  social  relations  becomes, 
in  one  domain  after  another,  sii()erfluous,  and  then  dies 
out  of  itself;  the  government  of  persons  is  replaced  by  the 
administration  of  things,  and  by  the  conduct  of  the  pro- 
of 3ses  of  production.  The  state  is  not  'abolished.'  It  dies 
otU."  •  Confusing  the  abuses  of  the  institution  with  its 
essence,  they  looked  forward  with  a  trustful  optimism 
inherited  from  their  Utopian  forerunners  to  the  time  when 
voluntary  organizations  coiiperating  harmoniously  would 
serve  all  men's  needs.  In  fact  there  was  little  to  choose 
between  their  ideal  and  that  of  the  closely  allied  thinkers 
of  the  Bakunin  type  from  whom  the  anarchists  of  to-day 

ever-increasing  volume  of  protluction  and  to  an  increasingly  wide  diffu- 
sion of  profit.  And  therein  lies  the  essential  stability  of  modem  states. 
There  are  millions  ot  persons  who  would  certainly  lose  by  anything  like  a 
general  overturn,  and  they  are  everywhere  the  strongest  and  best  organ- 
ized millions.  And  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  any  violent  move- 
ment would  infallibly  encounter  an  overwhelming  resistance,  and  that 
any  movement  which  waj  inspired  by  mere  class  prejudice,  or  by  a  desire 
to  gain  a  selfish  advantage,  would  encounter  from  the  selfish  power  of  the 
•haves'  an  effective  resistance  which  would  bring  it  to  sterility  and  to 
destruction."  —  Winston  Spencer  Churchill,  Liberalism  and  the  Social 
Problem,  p.  79. 
»  Sociali3m.Vtopianar^dScierUific,pp.^(^-T7.  Cf. Bebel, op. ««., p. 837. 


186 


SOCIALISM 


it 


trace  their  descent.*   To  revolutionists  in  exile  the  state 
and  the  police  were  anathema. 

To-day,  with  the  tactics  adopted  reacting  on  the  ideal 
proposed,  participation  in  politics  bringing  reconcilement 
to  the  state,  and  the  policy  of  accepting  installments  of 
betterment  frequently  transmuting  neutrality  into  enthu- 
siastic fervor,  the  state  is  frankly  accepted  as  the  unit  and 
main  agency  of  administration  in  the   future.  Lassalle 
and  Bismarck  have  conquered  Marx.    It  may  be  that  the 
anarchist  with  his  proposal  of  voluntary  collectivism  on 
a  territorial  basis,  or  the  syndicalist  with  his  vision  of  the 
industry  of  the  future  in  the  control  of  autonomous  trade 
unions,  or  the  occasional  socialist  who  calls  for  the  land  for 
the  laborer  and  the  mine  for  the  miner  —  and,  adds  the 
ironic  Fabir  a,  the  school  for  the  school-teacher  and  the 
sewer  for  the  sewer-man^ — is  the  truer  son  of  Marx.  The 
official  heirs,  however,  read  the  last  will  and  testament 
otherwise.  It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  the  pious  attempts 
of  wandering  disciples  to  maintain  verbal  consistency  with 
the  fathers  by  tabooing  the  word  state  in  favor  of  some 
other  name  for  the  same  thing  —  "the  central  administra- 
tion, as  will  be  noted,  not  a  Government  with  a  pKJwer  to 
rule,  but  an   executive    college  of  administrative  func- 
tions." ^  According  to  the  revised  version,  the  state  does 
not  die  out. 

The  acceptance  of  state  control  does  not  necessarily 
involve  direct  state  operation  throughout  the  whole  field 
of  industry.    The  modern  socialist  rightly  insists  on  the 

'  Fabbri,  "Die  historische  und  sachliche  Zusammenhange  zwischen 
Marxismus  und  Anarchismus,"  in  Arehir  fiir  Sozialunssen.tchaft,  20, 
p.  "iSO.  Cf.  Marx:  "The  existence  of  the  state  and  the  existence  of  slavery 
are  inseparable,"  Paris  Vorwarts,  1844,  cited  inAdler,  Grundlagen  der 
Marxschen  Kritik,  p.  245. 

'  Sidney  Webb,  Socialism  True  and  False,  Fabian  Tract  no.  51,  p.  13. 

'  Bebel,  op.  cit.,  p.  276.  Hillquit  comes  to  the  franker  conclusion: 
"Since  little  or  nothing  can  be  gained  by  inventing  a  new  term,  we  shall 
hereafter  designate  the  proposed  organized  socialist  society  as  the  Social- 
ist State."  —  Socialism  in  Theory  av<f  Practice,  p.  100. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


187 


!    •!? 

I  i. 


possibility  of  wide  activity  by  local  governmental  units, 
by  Lown  and  city,  county  and  province.  The  Utopian 
vision  of  the  small  commune  as  the  unit  of  o  ganization 
finds  realization  in  a  saner  form  in  the  enterprise  of  the 
municipality  of  to-day,  and  to-morrow,  the  socialist  holds, 
will  see  a  further  development  of  the  tendency.  So  far  as 
the  production  of  services  and  goods  entirely  for  local 
consumption  is  concerned,  a  wide  degree  of  autonomy 
would  no  doubt  be  possible,  and  to  this  extent  the  burdens 
imposed  on,  and  by,  the  central  authorities  would  be 
lessened.  So  far,  however,  as  the  production  of  ^oods  for 
state-wide  consumption  is  concerned,  local  independence 
is  impossible.  If  the  haphazardness  and  anarchy  which 
the  socialist  declares  characterize  the  competitive  system 
are  to  be  abolished,  the  kinds  and  quantities  of  wares 
produced  and  the  manner  of  their  disposition  must  be 
rigidly  controlled  by  central  authority. 

In  quite  recent  years,  whether  frightened  by  the  shadow 
of  their  own  bureaucratic  state  or  insensibly  abandoning 
their  attitude  of  implacable  hostility  to  the  existing  order, 
many  prominent  socialists  have  proposed  an  even  greater 
range  of  variety  in  organization.  Side  by  side  with  the 
national  and  local  undertakings  there  are  to  be  found 
cooperatives  for  production.  This  position  is  expressed 
most  authoritatively  by  Kautsky,  in  a  passage  which  has 
been  quoted  or  adapted  by  many  socialists,  particularly  of 
reformist  leanings.*    The  interpretation  of  this  striking 

»  "  In  this,  as  in  every  other  relation,  the  greatest  diversity  and  pos- 
sibility of  change  will  rule.  Nothing  is  more  false  than  to  represent  the 
socialist  society  as  a  simple,  rigid  mechanism  whose  wheels  when  once 
set  in  motion  run  on  continuously  in  the  same  manner. 

"The  most  manifold  forms  of  property'in  the  means  of  production  — 
national,  municipal,  cooperatives  of  consumption  and  production,  and 
private,  can  exist  beside  each  other  in  a  socialist  society  —  the  most 
diverse  forms  of  industrial  organization,  bureaucratic,  trades  union, 
cooperative,  and  individual;  the  most  diverse  forms  of  the  remuneration 
of  labor,  fixed  wages,  time-wages,  piece-wages,  participation  in  the  eco- 
nomies in  raw  material,  machinery,  etc,  participation  in  the  results  of 


t 


\   \ 


183 


SOCIALISM 


passage  is  open  to  ambiguity.  It  is  explicitly  clear  that 
it  offers  a  picture  of  the  socialist  commonwealth,  not  of 
a  trani'tional  compromise.  If  it  is  to  be  taken  in  conjunc- 
tion with  previous  declarations  in  the  same  work  to  the 
effect  that  the  proletariat  must  regulate  in  every  estab- 
lishment the  height  of  production,  the  allotment  of  labor 
force  and  of  capital  goods,  and  the  disposal  of  the  pro- 
duct,'  the  freedom  and  flexibility  claimed  are  utter  shams. 
Central  control  in  these  essential  respects  would  mean  that 
initiative  would  be  so  cramped,  the  scope  for  independent 
enterprise  so  restricted,  the  stimulus  to  greater  effort  so 
feeble,  that  the  boasted  diversity  would  be  an  empty  form. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  as  the  passage  by  itself  would  imply, 
and  as  some  of  Kautsky's  fellow  socialists  have  interpreted 

intensive  labor;  the  most  diverse  forms  of  the  circulation  of  products, 
like  contract  by  purchase  from  the  rarehouses  of  the  sUte,  from  muni- 
cipalities from  cooperatives  of  production,  from  producers  themselves, 
etc.,  etc.  The  same  manifold  character  of  economic  mechanism  that 
exists  to-day  is  possible  in  socialistic  society.  Only  the  hunting  and  the 
hunted,  the  struggling  and  resisting,  the  annihilating  and  being  anni- 
hilated of  the  present  competitive  struggle  are  excluded  and  therewith 
the  contrast  between  exploiter  and  exploited."  —  Kautsky,  The  Social 
Revolution,  pp.  166-67. 

Cf.  Spargo.  op.  cit,  chap.  8,  "Outlines  of  the  Socialist  State,"  for  a 
somewhat  similar  forecast  which  called  forth  the  following  typical  criti- 
cism: "The  book  is  one  of  the  most  notable  contributions  to  the  literature 
of  socialism.  .  .  .  But  it  is  extremely  doubtful  if  socialists  generally  will 
accept  with  enthusiasm  the  strange  mixture  of  private  production,  free 
voluntary  cooperation,  and  state  ownership  proposed."— CArw<tan  Social- 
ist, iv,  no.  9,  p.  2. 

*  "The  proletariat  can  only  accomplish  this  regulation  of  the  circula- 
tion of  products  by  the  abolition  of  private  property  in  industry,  and  it 
not  only  can  do  this  but  it  must  do  it,  if  the  process  of  production  is  to 
proceed  under  its  direction  and  its  regime  is  to  be  permanent.  It  must 
fix  the  height  of  production  of  each  individual)  social  productive  plant 
according  to  the  basis  calculated  upon  the  existing  productive  powers 
(laborers  and  means  of  production)  and  of  the  existing  needs,  and  see 
to  it  that  each  productive  plant  has  not  only  the  necessary  laborers 
but  also  the  necessary  means  of  production  and  that  the  necessary  pro- 
ducts are  deliveret'  .o  the  customers."  — Kautsky,  The  Social  Revolu- 
tion, p.  150. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


189 


it,  a  real  independence  on  the  part  of  these  various  organ- 
izations is  to  be  granted,  if  the  individual,  whether  in  isola- 
tion or  in  voluntary  cooperation,  is  to  be  permitted  to 
work  for  private  profit,  to  compete  with  other  producers, 
employ  assistants,  to  dispose  of  his  wares  without  outside 
interference,  this  development  ofiFers  striking  evidence  of 
the  intellectual  bankruptcy  of  socialism  on  the  side  of 
organization.  The  chief  defender  of  the  faith,  high  priest 
of  the  most  (nearly)  orthodox  wing  of  the  German  Social 
Democracy,  is  led  to  abandon  his  negative  attitude  and 
come  to  close  grip  with  the  difficulties  of  socialist  adminis- 
tration.   It  is  remarkable  testimony  to  the  vitality  and 
practicability  of  the  existing  system  that  he  is  forced  by 
this  study  so  to  trim  and  prune  and  hedge  that  his  picture 
of  the  socialist  commonwealth  turns  out  to  be  only  an 
idealization  of  our  competitive  society,  merely  a  shifting 
of  emphasis,  a  change  in  the  proportion  of  individual  and 
social  enterpi'Ise. 

It  is  tacitly  admitted  that  the  socialist  programme  of  the 
collective  ownership  and  operation  of  all  the  instruments 
of  production  would  not  work.  To  obviate  this  difficulty 
and  that,  recourse  is  had  to  one  institution  after  another 
of  the  much  berated  existing  order,  until  finally  Herr 
Kautsky  emerges  with  a  society  differing  from  the  present 
only  by  the  extension  of  government  control  to  a  few  more 
industries.    The  society  thus  outlined  is  infinitely  more 
defensible  than  the  rigid  collectivist  state,  but  it  gains  in 
practicability  precisely  in  the  measure  in  which  it  discards 
the  exclusively  collectivist  ideal  and  approaches  the  present 
organization.   Plausibility  is  won  at  the  expense  of  con- 
sistency. The  denouncer  of  private  property  is  forced  to 
admit  its  sway  in  a  large  part  of  the  industrial  field.    The 
declaimer  against  the  exploitation  of  the  workman  by 
the    employer   permits  the  extraction   of  surplus  value 
to    survive.    The    fulminator    against    the   insufferable 
evils  cf  anarchical  competition  permits  the  seven  devils 


th' 


f  i  '1 

r :! 


-ill 


m 


I  ; 


I  i 


'■^ 


f1I!- 


1 


190 


SOCLVUSM 


of  competition  still  to  roam  unchained  in  certain  large 
fields. 

The  attempt  to  run  with  the  competitivt  hares  and 
hunt  with  the  coUectivist  hounds  is  of  course  logically 
indefensible.   The  alternatives  must  be  faced  frankly.   If 
private  companies,    cooperative  societies,  municipalities 
or  autonomous  trade  unions  are  permitted  to  engage  com- 
petitively in  production,  without  any  central  regulatic    ,  vve 
have  the  "anarchy"  which  the  socialist  asserts  of  the  pre- 
sent order.  If  central  regulation  is  imposed,  there  is  an  end 
of  freedom  and  initiative  among  the  units.   A  socialoid 
state  where  "the  struggling  and  resisting,  the  annUiilating 
and  being  annihilated  of  the  present  competitive  struggle" 
are  excluded  and  harmony  is  imposed  by  external  regula- 
tion, and  where  at  the  same  time  the  flexibility  and  freedom 
and  progress  which  can  come  only  from  this  struggling  and 
resisting  are  to  be  incorporated,  is  a  hybiid  impossible  of 
realization,  a  contradiction  in  terms. 

\ccepting  the  state,  therefore,  as  the  unit  of  organiza- 
;  .a,  and  assuming  that  when  the  party  programmes  call 
for  the  collective  ownership  and  operation  of  the  means  of 
production  they  mean  what  they  say,  we  may  turn  to  Ihe 
problems  of  the  organization  of  production  —  the  selec- 
tion of  the  administration,  the  allotment  of  work,  and  the 
regulation  of  output. 

In  the  first  place,  who  are  to  be  the  stewards  of  King 
Proletariat,  and  how  are  they  to  be  chosen  ?  In  spite  of 
Saint-Simon's  and  Engeis' oracular  utterance  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  persons  will  be  replaced  by  the  administration 
of  things,  the  new  regime  will  necessarily  be  a  government 
of  persons  by  per  «,  more  or  less  for  (certain)  persons. 
It  must  be  radi^  iemocratic,  all  modern  socialists  are 
agreed;  here  and  there  a  socialist  recognizing  that  demo- 
cracy is  not  incompatible  with  the  keeping  of  so.  le  mon- 
archical trappings.!  But  when  it  comes  to  translating 
»  Cf.  Menger,  Neue  Staat-skkre.  book  iii.  chap.  3. 


^^i:yf^'^kr. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


191 


I 


abstract  democracy  into  concrete  institutions,  evasion  or 
divergence  is  met  with.  By  those  who  face  the  problem 
three  main  solutions  are  offered  —  the  extension  of  the 
existing  state  machinery,  with  all  departments  of  industry 
in  charge  of  political  heads,  as  in  the  case  of  the  post-office 
at  present;  the  differentiation  of  the  political  and  the  in- 
dustrial state,  with  the  control  of  industry  in  the  hands 
of  expert  commissions;  and  autonomous  administration  by 
trade  unions,  selecting  their  own  chiefs. 

The  choice  of  system  would  in  great  measure  depend  on 
the  method  in  which  the  socialist  commonwealth  came  into 
being.  Coming  as  a  result  of  the  gradual  extension  of  state 
apd  municipal  ownership  to  one  industry  after  another, 
the  first  alternative  would  be  the  most  probable  solution. 
The  prospect  is  one  which  should  warn:  the  cockles  of  a 
Tammany  grafter's  heart.  Here  would  be  n  prize  worth 
the  striving  for,  the  control  not  of  a  narrow  section  of  men's 
activities  but  of  the  whole  wide  field.  Incalculable  inter- 
ests would  be  at  stake.  And  we  are  asked  to  believe  that 
in  the  strife  there  would  be  no  factional  struggle,  no  wire- 
pulling, no  dickering,  no  ward  heelers,  no  slates.  We  are 
offered  assurances,  childish  and  bland,  that  in  this  ideal 
state  only  the  fittest  will  be  chosen  to  office,*  and  that 
there  will  be  no  machine,  the  government  being  merely 
a  committee  of  the  workers  to  conduct  their  joint  affairs.'^ 
To  appreciate  these  idyllic  forecasts  to  the  full,  one  needs 

'  Bebel,  op.  eit.,  p.  276:  "Whether  the  central  administration  shall  be 
chosen  directly  by  popular  vote  or  appointed  by  the  local  administrations 
is  immaterial.  These  questions  will  not  then  have  the  importance  they 
have  to-day;  the  question  is  then  no  longer  one  of  filling  posts  that  bestow 
special  honor,  or  that  vest  the  incumbent  with  greater  power  and  influ- 
ence, or  that  yield  larger  incomes:  it  is  then  a  question  of  filling  positions 
of  trust,  for  which  the  fittest,  whether  male  or  female,  are  taken." 

*  Simons,  op.  cit.,  p.  177:  "This  does  not  mean  that  there  would  be  an 
enormous  industrial  ind  political  machine  in  the  hands  of  a  majority 
of  the  voters.  .  .  .  The  governraent  .  .  .  would  be  simply  a  commit- 
tee of  the  workers  to  do  for  the  whole  body  of  the  workers  the  things  ia 
which  they  were  all  interested." 


TATT. 


•I,   \ 


I  I 


y. 


n . 


>  •■! 
iff 


I'll  I 


w    i 


^■ 


192 


SOCIALISM 


to  have  followed  closely  some  of  the  innumerable  faction 
fights  within  the  ranks  of  the  socialist  parties  of  to-day, 
or  to  have  watched  a  socialist  junta  jam  a  nomination  or 
a  platform  plank  through  a  convention,  despite  the  pro- 
tests of  obscure  members  of  the  rank  and  file;  and  this 
when  the  prize  at  stake  was  not  office  but  the  empty  honor 
of  bemg  defeated  for  office. 

The  contention  that  the  universal  adoption  of  civil- 
service  reforms  would  cure  all  ills  fails  to  meet  the  issue. 
Such  a  measure  might  do  much  to  keep  the  civil  service 
out  of  politics,  in  the  sense  that  appointment  to  its  ranks 
would  not  be  made  the  reward  of  party  activity;  it  could 
do  little  to  keep  politics  out  of  the  civil  service,  once 
practically    every    worker   was   a   government    worker. 
Political  activity  would  then  take  the  form,  not  of  domina- 
tion of  the  government  by  an  outside  organization,  but 
of  an  internal  contest  between  different  groups  and  oc- 
cupations seeking  to  promote  their  collective  interest  by 
gaining  control  of  the  administration.    Under  socialism 
civil-service  reform  becomes  utterly  meaningless  and  in- 
applicable.    To   prohibit   civil    servants    from   political 
activity  when  everybody  is  a  civil  servant,  is  to  dis- 
franchise  the   nation.    "When   everybody   is  an  office- 
holder," declares  Jean  Jaures,  "there  will  be  no  office- 
holders." There  is  a  glint  of  truth  in  this  paradox  of  the 
brilliant  leader  of  the  French  socialist  movement,  so  far 
as  it  implies  that  in  the  future  the  lines  of  division  would 
not  nm  between  a  specialized  bureaucracy  and  the  mass 
of  officeless  citizens.  Yet  the  fact  remains  that  the  lines 
would  conti:  ue  to  be  drawn,  the  struggle  merely  being 
transferred  withm  the  ranks  of  the  service.  If  every  citizen 
were  an  officeholder,  in  the  hands   of  the  officeholders 
alone  would  rest  the  power  to  determine,  by  vote  and 
combination  and  pressure,  the  conditions  of  their  employ- 
ment. 

That  administrators  so  chosen  would  he  the  tools  of 


.•  ^ 


fijmf 


'.:^^^ 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


lOS 


I 


faction  is  inevitable.  That  they  would  have  neither  the 
expert  training  nor  the  permanent  tenure  required  for 
efficient  administration  of  complicated  industrial  depart- 
ments is  only  too  probable.  The  weakness  of  ^uch  a  social- 
ist administration,  however,  is  not  merely  personal.  It 
would  fail  chiefly  because  the  unwieldy  centralization  in- 
volved would  be  fatal  to  progress  and  efficiency.  Bureau- 
cratic routine  would  paralyze  initiative.  Regularity  of 
procedure  rather  than  efficiency  of  production  would  be 
the  criterion  applied.  The  red  flag  would  be  shredded  into 

red  tape.' 

Recognizmg  that  inefficiency  and  factional  struggle 
would  be  inseparable  from  political  administration,  some 
socialists  propose  universal  government  by  commission. 
Vandervelde,  for  example,  would  substitute  for  the  re- 
sponsible but  incompetent  politician  the  competent  but 
irresponsible  expert.  Citing  with  approval  the  declaration 
of  a  Belgian  business  men's  memorial  that  certain  abuses 
in  the  railway  tariff  "will  last  so  long  as  the  railroads  are 
operated  by  the  state  and  directed  by  a  politician,  who 

»  A  frank  socialist  recognition  of  this  danger  is  found  in  Vandervelde, 
op.  eit.,  p.  131:  "In  the  administrative  like  the  political  order,  the  char- 
acteristic of  the  present  [state]  system  is  centralization  pushed  to  the 
extreme.  ...  In  the  Belgian  state  railways  for  example  —  and  as  much 
might  be  said  for  other  countries  —  an  engineer  in  charge  of  a  shop  can- 
not modify  in  any  way  the  processes  or  the  system  of  operation  in  the 
service  which  is  directly  entrusted  to  him,  without  the  authorization  of 
his  chief,  who  in  his  turn  has  to  ask  the  authorization  of  the  management, 
which  again,  in  mast  cases,  has  to  ask  the  approval  of  the  council  of 
administration.   In  short,  every  initiative  has  to  pierce  three  zones,  in 
which  it  has  much  chance  of  meeting  obstacles  in  routine,  ignorance,  or 
hostility.   If  it  starts  from  a  man  of  much  will-power,  it  will  overcome 
these  obstacles,  but  as  men  of  this  t>-pe  form  the  exception,  the  initiative 
quickly  finds  itself  rebuffed,  and  ottener  than  not  it  ends  by  becoming 
null.  On  the  other  hand,  this  triple  overlapping,  which  is  required  by  the 
organization  itself  —  with  the  aim  of  bringing  everj-thing  back  to  the 
centre  —  results  in  the  suppression  of  responsibility.  .  .  .  The  great 
question  is  to  know  whether  the  authc  izations.  following  the  hierarchical 
ladder,  have  been  asked  and  obtained.   The  cost  of  production  is  not 
considered." 


u 


•1   IS 
at 


ru 


I 


pi 

m 

^1 

f 

J  i 

1 

1 

! 

) 

i 

'I 


194 


SOCIALISM 


will  always  be  a  mark  for  solicitation  and  pressure  of  every 
kind,"  he  urges  the  universal  adoption  of  the  Swiss  and 
Australian  government  railway  methods  of  control  by 
independent  commissions  and  also  of  the  decentralized 
administration  found  in  large  private  corporations.'   The 
ideal  of  the  English  Fabians  is  essentially  the  same.   The 
proposal  is  not  without  its  strong  features.    A  bureau- 
cratic hierarchy  —  or  a  decentralized  bureaucracy,  if  one 
can  conceive  of  bureaucracy  being  decentralized  — might 
avert  some  of  the  worst  evils  of  political  pressure.  It  would 
do  so,  however,  only  at  the  sacrifice  of  political  and  indus- 
trial freedom.   Absence  of  pressure  entails  absence  of  re- 
sponsibility.   It  is  more  than  probable  that  the  failure  of 
direct  political  administration  of  the  huge,  complex  indus- 
trial machine  would  drive  the  socialist  state  into  adopting 
commission  rule.  Herein,  in  fact,  lies  one  of  the  most  seri- 
ous  dangers  the  growth  of  so  ialism  would  entail;  by  heap- 
ing on  central  and  local  governments  burdens  too  great 
for  democratic  institutions  to  cope  with,  it  leads  to  their 
breakdown  and  the  substitution  of  an  irresponsible  bureau- 
cracy.   The  recourse  to  government  by   commission,  to 
rule  by  Saint-Simonist   benevolent  and  religious-minded 
despot  or  by  Fabian  well-oiled  expert,  involves  a  confessioa 
of  democracy's  failure.    Government  by  state-appointed 
commissions  has  to  its  credit  some  notable  achievements. 
There  is,  however,  need  here  for  discrimination.   For  its 
success  three  conditions  appear  to  bo  indispensable.  The 
number  of  commissions  should  not  be  so  great  as  to  make 
impossible  that  constant  and  focused  publicity  which  to- 
day tempers  authority  and  remedies  the  evils  of  inertia 
and  routine  and  cHqueism  which  sooner  or  later  beset  such 
bodies.   The  commission  succeeds  best  when  its  function  is 
gathering  and  dispensing  information  or  regulating  private 
industry;  it  succeeds  least  when  it  endeavors  itse'f  to 

'  Vandervelde.  Collectivism   and  Industrial  Revolution,  translated  by 
Kerr,  p.  180.  ' 


'^;m.:ty^ 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAUST  IDEAL 


105 


carry  on  complex  administrative  duties.  Finally,  commis- 
sions can  be  independent  of  party  pressure  only  so  long  as 
their  appointment  is  not  the  main  function  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  therefore  not  the  main  issue  on  which  elec- 
tions turn.  Set  up  commissions  in  every  sphere  of  activity, 
impose  upon  them  the  burdens  of  administration  as  well  as 
of  publicity  or  regulation,  make  them  so  important  a  factor 
in  government  that  their  choice  will  be  the  chief  object  of 
party  rivalry,  and  if  we  escape  from  Prussianizing  our 
free  democracies  it  will  only  be  by  relapsing  into  the 
regime  of  faction  and  pull  for  which  the  commission  is 
suggested  as  a  remedy. 

A  third  alternative  is  the  election  of  the  higher  officials 
in  each  industry  by  the  workers  directly  concerned,  rather 
than  by  the  general  electorate.    Th"..^  plan  has  been  put 
forward  sporadically  for  many  years  but  has  recently  been 
given  fresh  momentum  by  the  growth  of  syndic;ilism,  the 
revolutionary  European  trade  unionism  which  sees  in  the 
union  or  guild  the  cell  of  the  future  social  organism.  The 
advantage  claimed  for  this  solution,  the  knowledge  on  the 
part  of  the  voters  of  the  requirements  of  the  office  and  the 
,;apacities  of  the  candidate,  is  not  without  force.  The  fatal 
flaw  in  the  plan  is  that  the  very  conditions  which  give  this 
restricted  electorate  fuller  knowledge  of  the  situation, 
heighten  their  direct  personal   interest  in  the  issue;  the 
range  of  factional  struggle  would  be  narrowed  but  its 
intensity  deepened.  Gronlund's  suggestion  of  escape  from 
this  dilemma  by  giving  subordinates  power  to  elect  but 
superiors  power  to  dismiss,  the  personage  at  the  apex  alone 
being  liable  to  dismissal  by  the  constituency  which  elects 
him,'  is  more  ingenious  than  convincing,  with  its  naive 
expectation  that  the  officials  would  be  given  power  un- 
pledged and  unfettered.    Nor  is  provision  satisfactorily 
made  for  the   general    coordinating  and  directing   staff, 
which  would  not  come  within  the  field  of  any  specific 

«  Cnopernfivf  Commonwealth,  chap.  8. 


III 


^  PW^ 


^::-v 


.^4;; 


196 


SOCIAUSM 


j^aerj^-r 


union.    This  device,  like  the  other  plans  put  forward, 
leaves  unsolved  the  serious  problem  of  how  to  combine 
admmistrative  efficiency  and  administrative  responsibility. 
It  does   not  exorcise  the  jwlitician.    Com|>etiti<)n.  driven 
out  of  the  economic  door,  flies  in  at  the  political  window. 
The  administration  chosen,  the  secretariats  organized, 
one  of  the  chief  problems  to  be  faced  would  be  to  determine 
what  should  be  produced,  and  in  what  quantities.  For  the 
bulk  of  commodities  no  especial  difficulty  should  arise, 
particularly  in  the  event  of  gradual  and  piecemeal  estab- 
lishment of  socialism.   The  demand  for  the  great  staples 
would  be  clearly  audible  and  readily  met.    The  danger 
here  is  twofold:  that  production  would  fall  into  a  rut  and 
that  some  articles  would  be  tabooed  by  the  prejudice  of 
the  majority.    There  would  not  be  the  same  stimulus  to 
variety  which  exists  to-day  when  successful  novelty  spells 
fortune.  Inertia,  buttressed  by  short-sighted  theories  of 
economy  based  on  the  inability  to  recognize  the  necessity 
of  a  wide  margin  of  experiment  and  failure  for  variation  and 
progress,  would  tend  to  stereotype  wares  and  processes. 
And  with  the  instruments  of  production  in  its  hands  it 
would  be  easy  for  the  state  to  repress  all  habits  and  tastes 
which  seemed  to  the  majority  pernicious  or  useless,  by 
simply  not  producing  the  goods  in  question.   Beer  might 
go  — picture  a  socialist  commonwealth  without  beer  — 
a'id  on  beer  might  follow  tobacco,  or  nerve-racking  coffee, 
or  corsets,  or  vaudeville,  or  prayer-books,  as  the  majority 
swayed.    The  same  tendency  exists  to-day,  where,  as  in 
the  case  of  alcoholic  drinks,  the  evils  of  excess  are  serioul 
and  widely  recognized,  but  under  collectivism  its  applica- 
tion would  be  immensely  simplified  and  extended.' 

»  Renard  proposes  the  division  of  wants  into  absolute  and  relative, 
the  kbor-force  of  society  being  directed  in  the  first  place  to  the  pitjduction 
of  the  absolute  minimum  required  and  then  to  the  production  of  such 
additional  commodities  as  a  majority  vote  of  the  citizens  may  add  to  the 
list.  — Rctmb  socialiste,  xxvii.  pp.  ISseq.  Yet  Renard  is  an  eager  cham- 
pion  of  individual  liberty! 


S*?^fe3 


,',V-t    TM'~:^-.- 


:^*h'h^iimj3:mM^^t^{m^.^%: 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


107 


How  much  to  produce  is  an  even  more  difficult  problem 
than  what  to  produce.   Under  existing  conditions  the  ad- 
justment between  demand  and  supply  is  effected  by  price 
fluctuations,    automatically    warning    the   producers     of 
approaching  scarcity  or  sui)erabundance  and  setting  in 
motion    counteracting   forces.     The    adjustment    is    not 
effected  without  frequent  friction  and  loss,  but  when  the 
modem  world-wide  interdependent  system  of  production 
and  exchange  is  comprehensively  surveyed,  the  marvel- 
ous flexibility  and  adequacy  of  the  mechanism  stand  out 
in  clear  relief.  The  traditional  socialist  doctrine  cf  lal)or- 
value  has,  however,  made  it  appear  essential  to  many 
coUectivist  schemers  to  forego  this  expedient,  substituting 
for  the  existing  currency,  labor-notes  corresponding  to  the 
work  performed,  and  setting  up  statistical  computation 
in  place  of  price  variation  as  the  means  of  adjusting  supply 
and  demand.   Even  Marx  and  Engels,  while  condemning 
as  Utopian  proposals  to  establish  labor-note  experiments 
in  the  midst  of  a  com,jetitive  economy,  looked  forward 
to  their  adoption  under  the  coUectivist  regime.'    Bebo' 
adheres  to  the  same  general  arrangement,*  and  Kautskj 
while  retaining  a  token  money,  deprives  it  of  its  function 
as  a  measure  of  value,  and  trusts  for  equilibrium  to  some 
undefined  system  of  "social  regulation."  '   The  growing 
recognition  of  the  unsoundness  of  the  labor-value  doctrine, 
and  of  the  impossibility  of  determining  and  equating  the 
labor  applied  in  any  specific  instances  has  led  other  social - 

>  Cf.  Bourguin,  op.  eit.,  pp.  116  seq.,  for  convenient  statement  and 
criticism  of  the  Marxian  position. 

»  "There  being  no  'merchandise'  in  Socialist  society,  neither  can  there, 
be  money.  .  .  .  Socialist  .society  produces  no  article  of  merchandise  —  only 
articles  of  use  and  necessity,  whose  production  requires  a  certain  measure 
of  social  labor.  The  time  on  an  averaRe  requisite  for  the  production  of 
an  article  is  the  only  standard  by  which  it  is  measured  for  social  use.  .  .  . 
Any  voucher  — a  printed  piece  of  paper,  KoW  or  tin  —  certifies  to  the 
time  spent  in  work,  and  enables  its  possessor  to  exchange  it  for  articlea 
of  various  kinds."  —  Op.  cit.,  pp.  291-492. 

*  Rndal  Reeohdion,  p.  183. 


n- 


5^1 


108 


SOCUUSM 


]    1 
I 


ists  to  disregard  all  such  devices  as  "Utopian  and  puerile,'* 
and  to  projjose  to  rettiin  numey  with  its  present  functions.' 
Undoubtedly  the  hitter  pr«j[K)sal  gicatly  simplifies  the 
socialist  task  of  adjusting  su|)ply  and  demand,  as  in  fact 
every  rejetrtion  of  the  si)eciiieally  socialist  proi>osals  and 
the  substitution  of  the  tried  and  proven  methods  of  the 
much-criticised  existing  system  simplify  it  at  the  minor 
expense  of  consistency.  The  retention  of  money,  however, 
brings  new  complications  with  the  po.ssibility  involved  of 
lending  it  at  interest  and  thus  peqictuating  economic  in- 
equality and  economic  "exploitation."  Men  would  differ 
in  their  discount  of  the  future  then  as  now.  Could  the 
Red  Pope  succeed  l)etter  than  the  Black  in  the  attempt 
to  repress  the  taking  of  usury?  In  the  Russian  mir  there 
was  no  escape  from  'he  usurers,  the  "mir caters."  As 
Engels  clearly  perceived,  the  retention  of  money  with  its 
full  present-day  functions  leads  fatally  to  the  "resurrection 
of  high  finance"  and  the  dominance  of  the  community  by 
new  masters.*    Whether  money  be  rejected  or  retained, 

'  Cf.  Ilillquit,  Socialitm  in  Theory  and  Practice,  pp.  118-119,  where 
KauUky  is  quoted  ia  support  of  the  retention  of  "money,"  without  any 
intimation  of  the  restricted  scope  Kautsicy  assigned  to  it. 

'  "Herr  DUhring  prides  himself  that  in  his  community  one  can  do 
with  his  money  as  he  will.  He  cannot  prevent  one  man,  therefore,  Irom 
saving;  money  and  another  from  not  making  his  wages  sufEcient.  .  .  . 
Non  diet.  The  community  does  not  know  whence  it  comes.  But  now 
nri-<«"*  the  chance  for  money,  which  has  up  to  now  playe<l  the  r6!e  of  a 
standard  of  work  performed,  to  operate  as  real  money.  The  opportunities 
and  motives  arise  for  saving  money  on  the  one  hand  and  squandering  it 
on  tho  other.  The  needy  borrows  from  the  sf.ver.  The  borrowed  money 
taken  by  the  community  in  payment  for  means  of  living  becomes  again 
what  it  is  in  present-d.iy  .society,  the  social  incarnation  of  human  labor, 
the  real  measure  of  laljor,  the  universal  means  of  circulation.  All  the 
laws  in  the  world  are  powerless  against  it,  just  as  powerless  as  they  are 
against  the  multiplication  table  or  the  chemical  composition  of  water. 
And  the  saver  of  money  is  in  a  position  to  demand  interest,  so  that  specie 
funflioning  as  money  again  becomes  a  breeder  of  interest.  .  .  .  Gold  and 
silver  remain  in  the  world-market  as  world-''  oney.  .  .  .  Then  pro6t- 
hunters  transform  themselves  into  traders  in  .ac  means  of  circulation, 
"'iitn  bankers,  into  controllers  of  the  me^ns  of  production,  though  these 


u^..ri^:hiSiMi^m^^^m.i^i 


THE  MODER>   SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


190 


foreign  trade,  it  may  be  noted,  particularly  with  unregcn- 
erate  competitive  nations,  adds  greatly  to  the  complex- 
ities to  be  faced,  disturbing  in  the  one  case  th  nicely  cal- 
culated adjustments  of  the  statistician,  and  in  the  other 
increasing  the  opportunity  of  individual  profit  and  social 
disintegration. 

The  next  question  which  would  present  itsolf  would  lie 
the  assignment  of  the  working  force  t«)  their  fxysts.    It  is 
not  merely  the  Stiefelmicfu<frage  that  is  involved,  the  ques- 
tion who  is  to  black  the  boots  of  socialism,  for  it  may  l)e 
granted  that  with  the  (granted)  advance  of  science  the 
undesirable  work  would  be  made  less  repugnant.   But  it  is 
forgotten  by  socialist  afwiogists  that  this  improvement 
is  to  be  expected  all  along  the  line,  and  the  relative  unde- 
sirability  would  persist.  To  parallel  Lassalle's  contention, 
to  the  scavenger  it  will  not  matter  that  he  is  better  equipped 
than  the  scavenger  of  a  century  before;  it  will  matter  that 
he  is  not  so  comfortab'-    -coupled  as  his  neighlwr  who  is 
a  clerk  in  the  central  bui    .u  of  the  Commonwealth  Scav- 
enger Service.    The  naive  hopo  that   inferior  men  will 
recognize  their  inferiority  and  volunteer  to  do  the  lower 
tasks  is  a  remnant  of  Utopian  fantasy;'  were  it  true  that 
the  men  of  the  western  world  are  prone  to  think  their 
fortunes  equal  to  their  deserts,  the  socialist  movement 
would  lose  nine  tenths  of  its  recruits. 

may  Femiiin  forever  as  the  property  of  the  eeonomir  and  traHing  com- 
mimities  in  name.  Then-with  the  savers  and  profit-mongers  who  have 
been  eonvertetl  into  bankers  liecome  the  lords  of  the  economic  and  trading 
communes."  —  Landmarks  nf  Scientific  Socialism  (Anti-Duhiitig),  trans- 
lated by  Lewis,  pp.  «48-250. 

>  "  We  must  not  forget  that  there  is  a  natural  inequality  of  talent  and 
of  power.  In  any  st  '■■'  of  stK-icty  most  men  will  prefer  to  do  the  things 
they  are  best  fitted  for,  ^f  things  they  can  do  easiest  and  best,  and  the 
man  who  feels  himself  be.-,t  fitted  to  b«-  a  hewer  of  wixkI  or  drawer  of 
water  will  choose  that  rather  than  any  loftier  task.  There  is  no  reason 
at  all  to  suppose  that  leaving  the  choice  of  occupation  to  the  individ- 
ual would  involve  the  slightest  risk  to  society."  — Spargo,  Socialism, 
p.  233. 


h*.  I 


« 


n 


trf  \i 


tt" 


y 


■■  f- 1 


w 


-  f 


It! 


i 


I 


!        I 


SOCIALISM 

G)nceivably  the  problem  might  be  solved  soldierwise, 
the  central  authority  o  dering  tne  new  industrial  recruits 
to  the  posts  most  sparsely  manned.  The  Saint-Simonists 
looked  forward  to  the  day  when  a  socialist  amateur  Pro- 
vidence, with  insight  to  discern  capacity,  and  power  to 
provide  opportunity,  would  insure  unfailing  adjustment, 
and  socialists  of  some  later  schools  which  set  more  store 
on  narrow  cflSciency  and  four-square  regularity  than  on 
human  liberty  have  echoed  the  proposal.*  Permanent 
acceptance  of  such  benevolent  despotism  by  any  western 
people  is  plainly  impossible.  It  may  be  true  that  at  present 
liberty  of  choice  is  seriously  restricted  by  economic  in- 
equality, but  such  impersonal  compulsion  is  endurable,  and 
it  may  be  hoped,  with  increasing  thoroughness  of  training 
and  increasing  provision  for  open-eyed  and  intelligent 
selection  of  career  and  employment,  curable,  whereas 
definite  personal  compulsion  stirs  revolt.  To  their  credit 
the  great  majority  of  modem  socialists  utterly  reject  this 
conscription  solution  as  intolerable.  The  only  recourse  left 
is  an  equalization  of  advantages  by  shortened  hours  or 
heightened  pay  in  the  disagreeable  occupations,  until  the 
desired  adjustment  is  effected.  Consideration  of  this  pro- 
posal, however,  involves  the  general  question  of  the  social- 
ist pay-sheet,  the  method  of  distribution  of  the  national 
dividend. 

On  no  question  is  there  more  diversity  in  the  socialist 
camp  than  on  ti.is  subject  of  distribution.  The  party  pro- 
grammes are  silent.  Among  the  authoritative  individual 
writers  there  is  no  consensus  of  opinion.  Although  in 
criticism  distribution  bulks  largest,  in  construction  it  is 
to-day  least  stressed.  Reticence  is  sometimes  defended  on 
the  plea  that  it  is  not  a  matter  to  be  settled  by  considera- 

'  Cf.  the  spirit  of  Karl  Pearson's  remark,  in  Fthiei,  of  Free  Thought,  p. 
324:  "S<Kialists  hhve  to  inculcate  that  spirit  which  would  give  offenders 
against  the  state  nhort  shrift  and  the  nearest  lamp-post.  Every  citizen 
must  learn  to  say  with  Louis  XIV,  'L'fitat,  c'est  moi.'" 


THE  MODERN  SOCULIST  ffiEAL 


201 


tions  of  justice,  by  "ideological  pretenses  of  right";  but 
will  depend  on  the  productive  relations  existing. '  True, 
but  if  the  system  of  distribution  is  a  necessary  consequence 
of  the  system  of  production,  and  the  system  of  production 
which  is  to  be  established  in  place  of  the  existing  order 
has  been  revealed  to  the  seers  of  socialism,  there  is  all  the 
less  excuse  for  hesitancy  in  drawing  this  necessary  deduc- 
tion. Nor  can  it  be  fairly  maintained  that  considerations 
of  justice  are  not  involved.  Had  the  adherents  of  socialism 
demonstrated  its  inevitability,  it  would  be  idle  to  ask  this 
or  any  other  question  of  remorseless  fate.  But  since,  in 
large  part,  at  least,  acceptance  or  rejection  of  socialism  will 
depend  on  the  conscious  striving  of  mankind,  it  is  necessary 
to  consider  what  betterment  it  has  to  offer.  The  socialist 
cannot  be  permitted  to  denounce  with  voluble  vigor  the 
existing  system  of  distribution,  to  base  on  its  defects  his 
strongest  appeal  to  the  discontented,  and  then  himself  to 
escape  the  test  he  has  applied. 

To  many  socialists  the  old  solution  of  equal  sharing 
still  ai)peals  most  strongly.  It  has  the  merit  of  simplicity; 
if  it  worked  at  all  it  would  be  easy  to  work.  It  is,  in  fact, 
largely  from  sheer  despair  of  the  other  solutions  that  some 
have  been  driven  to  advocate  it.  "The  impossibility," 
confesses  a  Fabian  Essayist,  "of  estimating  the  separate 
value  of  each  man's  lalx>r  with  any  really  valid  result,  the 
friction  which  would  be  provoked,  the  inevitable  discon- 
tent, favoritism,  and  jobbery  that  would  prevail  —  all 
these  things  will  drive  the  Communal  Council  into  the 


It 

*    4 
•''  if 


-s. 


*  Marx,  On  the  Gotha  Programme:  translation  in  International  Sorialist 
Review,  May,  1908,  p.  6.50.  Marx  continues:  "  Under  any  and  all  cirnim- 
stances  the  distribution  of  the  means  of  consumption  is  but  the  result  of 
the  distribution  of  the  conditions  of  production  itself.  If  the  material 
conditions  of  prtxluction  are  the  joint  property  of  the  workers  themselves, 
just  so  there  will  result  a  distribution  of  the  means  of  consumption  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  present  day."  CI.  Kautsky,  Dan  Krfnrter  Programm, 
pp.  135  seq.,  where,  however,  nt>  very  <le6nite  deduction  is  drawn,  other 
than  ft  probable  teDdenoy  toward  equality. 


miM 


.  % 


202 


SOC-XISM 


right  path,  the  equal  remuneration  of  all  workers."  *  The 
complete  disregard  of  the  standards  of  need  and  of  merit 
stamps  this  standard  as  unsatisfactory  whether  from  the 
standpoint  of  justice  or  from  the  standpoint  of  practica- 
bility. Neither  in  the  Babeuvian  form  of  an  equal  distri- 
bution of  concrete  consumption  goods,  a  regimented  and 
rationed  uniformity,  nor  in  the  somewhat  more  flexible 
form  of  equal  allotment  of  unspecialized  purchasing  power, 
could  this  method  of  reward  adapt  itself  to  the  wide  varia- 
tions of  age  and  health  and  sex,  or  the  more  fluctuating 
but  no  less  real  differences  of  individual  capacity  and  in- 
terest. Its  adoption  could  weather  the  discontent  of  the 
abler  members  of  the  community  only  at  the  cost  of  a 
slackening  of  effort  which  would  make  the  maintenance 
of  efficiency  in  product  un  impossible. 

The  traditional  communistic  standard  is,  "to  each 
according  to  his  needs."  This  solution  was  advocated  by 
the  German  socialist  party  in  the  platform  adopted  at 
Gotha  in  1875,  and  while  in  later  programmes  the  domin- 
f.nce  of  the  Marxian  over  the  LassalHan  influence  brought 
discreet  silence  on  the  point,  it  is  generally  regarded  even 
by  the  socialists  who  reject  it,  as  the  solution  of  the  far 
future.  In  a  higher  phase  of  communist  society,  Marx 
declared,  when  the  narrow  specializing  of  individual  labor 
has  uisappeared  and  the  forces  of  production  have  been 
multiplied,  then,  and  then  only,  "can  the  narrow  bourgeois 
horizon  of  right  be  wholly  crossed  and  society  inscribe 
upon  its  flags,  Each  according  to  his  capabilities;  to  each 
according  to  his  needs! "  ^ 
Theoretically  this  ideal  has  much  to  commend  it,  espe- 

»  Annie  Besant,  Fabian  Essays,  p.  148. 

'  On  the  Gotha  Programme,  p.  649.  Hillquit,  Socialum  in  Thectnj  and 
Prairtice,  p.  117:  "To  the  socialists  the  old  communistic  motto,  'From 
each  according  to  his  ability,  to  each  according  to  his  needs,'  generally 
appears  as  the  ideal  rule  of  distribution  in  an  enlightened  human  society, 
and  quite  likely  the  time  will  come  when  that  high  standard  will  be  gen- 
erally adopted  by  civilized  commuuities." 


M^^J'^m^^  mi'^-      -W'-M 


'liiW 


iOii 


i^S 


THE  MODERN  SOCIA'JST  IDEAL 


SOS 


cially  when  needs  are  interpreted  in  an  ideal  sense  as  com- 
prising whatever  is  requisite  for  the  fullest  development  of 
human  personality.  It  would  be  the  standard  of  a  com- 
munity served  by  the  genii  of  the  lamp,  able  to  call  wealth 
into  existence  by  a  wish.  To  a  limited  degree,  indeed,  it 
might  prove  practicable;  to  a  limited  degree  it  does  prove 
practicable  to-day;  the  amount  of  police  protection  or  use 
of  the  king's  highway  a  citizen  obtains  is  not  based  on 
equality  or  merit  but  on  need.  This  degree  of  communistic 
distribution  is,  however,  feasible  simply  because  limited, 
and  because  the  expense  is  met  by  levies  on  competitively 
earned  wealth.  Even  were  it  desirable  to  adopt  as  the 
basis  of  distribution  a  standard  which  lays  all  stress  on 
appetite,  physical  or  mental,  and  none  on  efficiency  and 
dese  ',  it  would  be  impossible:  men's  desires  are  infinite 
and  tne  means  of  satisfying  them  will  always  be  finite.  If 
the  individual's  own  estimate  of  his  reasonable  needs  were 
taken,  the  socialist  treasury  would  be  bankrupt  in  a  week: 
if  ofiBcial  estimate,  the  prospect  of  jobbery  and  tyranny 
opened  up  must  give  the  most  fanatical  pause. 

A  variant  of  this  proposal  is  suggested  by  Sidney  We.- 
who  puts  forward  the  needs  of  the  occupation  as  the  touch- 
stone.' "The  needs  of  the  occupation"  is  a  delightfully 
hazy  phrase,  but  seems  to  imply  a  gradation  according  to 
dignity,  payment  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  conspicu- 
ous waste  required  in  the  position,  ten  thousand  a  year  to 
the  bishop  and  fifty  pounds  for  the  curate.  However  this 
legal  recognition  of  status  and  caste  n  a'-  appeal  to  the 
Brahmins  reincarnated  in  the  Fabian  Soci'ty,  it  is  hardly 
an  effective  slogan  for  proletarian  vote-catching. 

•  "This  competitive  wage  we  socialists  seek  to  replace  by  an  allowance 
for  maintenance  deliberately  settled  according  to  the  needs  of  the  occu- 
pation and  the  means  at  the  nation's  command.  We  already  see  official 
standards  regulated,  not  according  to  the  state  of  the  labor  market,  but 
by  consideration  of  the  cost  of  living.  This  principle  we  .seek  to  extend  to 
the  whole  industrial  world."  —  Socidism  True  and  False,  Fabian  Tract, 
no.  51,  p.  17. 


m.i 


P;^'^ 


I'',  n 


IP  11 
A  >il 


m  '■■ 


,  >    s 


1- 


S04 


SOCIALISM 


Still  a  third  standard  is  oflFercd,  that  of  service  rendered. 
One  variation  of  this  standard  is  embodied  in  the  old  war- 
cry,  "The  riRht  to  the  full  product  of  one's  labor."  It  has 
been  a  standing  charge  of  many  schools  of  socialism  that 
under  the  existing  system  the  worker  does  not  receive  this 
full  product,  but  is  robbed  by  the  deductions  made  by 
landlord  and  capitalist.  The  hoUowness  of  the  charge  is 
admitted  when,  in  attempting  to  apply  the  principle  to 
distribution  under  collectivism,  it  is  recognized  that  deduc- 
tions must  be  made  for  the  upkeep  of  capital.  Further, 
it  lies  on  the  surface  that  a  rigid  application  of  this  stand- 
ard would  mean  short  shrift  for  the  weak  and  the  incapable, 
so  a  second  deduction  must  be  made,  and  still  further 
allowances  are  required  for  the  services  shared  in  common. 
How  is  the  balance  to  be  distributed.'  How  is  it  possible 
to  isolate  each  man's  contribution  to  the  joint  product,  to 
determine  what  is  the  full  product  of  his  labor?  What 
fraction  shall  go  to  executive  direction,  what  to  bookkeep- 
ing routine,  what  to  manual  operation?  "To  search  for 
the  portion  of  an  individual's  labor  in  a  social  product," 
admits  Vandervelde,  "is,  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases, 
like  trying  to  find  a  needle  in  a  haystack."  ^  Even  if  by 
some  fantastic  process  of  marginal  imputati  m  this  could 
be  ascertained  for  the  individual  workshop,  what  of  the 
contribution  by  all  the  imponderable  forces  without  the 
factory,  whose  cooperation  is  essential?  As  a  matter  of  fact 
this  traditionally  socialist  standard  is  not  socialistic  at  all, 
but  the  essence  of  individualism.  If  socialism  stands  for 
anything  it  stands  for  the  all-importance  of  society.  Val- 
ues, it  must  assert,  are  social  products;  the  society  of  the 
past  has  prepared  the  knowledge  and  the  skill  requisite  for 
the  making,  and  the  society  of  the  present  gives  the  mar- 
ket and  distributive  mechanism  requisite  for  the  vending, 
of  every  commodity  or  serv-ice.  The  persistence  in  social- 
istic thought  of  +he  demand  for  the  "full  product  of  one*: 

»  Oj!.  rii.,  J).  143. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


205 


labor"  is  a  survival  of  primitive  handicraft  individual- 


ism. 


A  second  variation  of  payment  according  to  service  is 
the  proposition  to  reward  the  workers  in  proportion  to  the 
socially  necessary  labor-time  expended.  The  qualifying 
words  make  this  a  measure  not  of  time  spent  but  of  work 
done.  By  many  commentators  Marx  is  held  to  have  com- 
mitted himself  to  this  standard  by  his  advocacy  of  the 
labor-value  doctrine,  but  it  i-^  answered,  with  reason,  that 
this  doctrine  is  held  to  be  valid  only  in  a  capitalist  econ- 
omy.' However  this  may  be,  Marx  has  explicitly  commit- 
ted himself  to  a  standard  of  distribution — to  rule  pending 
the  development  of  society  to  the  stage  where  need  shall 
be  the  only  test  —  which  involves  paying  to  each  the  equi- 


lit 

'    tit.'*    i   I 


■4i 


*  "  In  a  society  of  private  producers,  private  individuals  or  their  fam- 
ilies have  to  bear  the  cost  of  creating  intellectual  workers.  An  intellectual 
slave  always  commanded  a  higher  price,  an  intellectual  worker  gets 
higher  wages.  In  an  organized  socialist  society,  society  bears  the  cost, 
and  to  it  therefore  belong  the  fruits,  the  greater  value  produced  by  in- 
tellectual labor.  The  laborer  himself  has  no  further  claim.  Whence  it 
follows  that  there  are  many  diflSculties  connected  with  the  beloved  claim 
of  the  worker  for  the  full  product  of  his  toil."  —  Engeb,  Landmarks  of 
Scientific  Socialism,  p.  222. 

On  the  assumption  apparently  made  by  Engels  that  superior  capacity 
is  entirely  a  matter  of  social  training,  the  logical  deduction  would  be 
equal  remuneration  for  all. 

'  SchafiBe,  Quintesaenr^e  of  Socialism,  chap.  6,  and  Graham,  Socialism 
New  and  Old,  chap.  6.  Ilillquit  is  .seemingly  justified  in  denying  that  any 
deduction  as  to  distribution  standard  can  be  drawn  from  the  theory  of 
value  advanced  (Socialiam  in  Theory  and  Practice,  p.  115),  but  is  on  less 
safe  ground  when  he  attempts  to  read  into  Marx  a  renunciation  of  all 
attempts  to  forecast  future  distribution  relations.  "In  fact,  Marx  occu- 
pied himself  just  as  little  with  the  distribution  of  wealth  in  a  future 
socialist  state  as  Darwin  occupied  himself  with  the  ultimate  physical 
type  of  man.  As  a  true  man  of  science,  he  limited  his  researches  to  the 
past  developments  and  existing  facts  and  tendencies."  Doubtless  this  is 
•vhat  ATarx  should  have  done  had  he  hfjen  nourished  on  Darwinian  con- 
cepts of  evolution,  but  since  as  a  mr.tter  of  fact  it  was  from  Hegel  rather 
than  from  Darwin  that  he  drew  his  inspiration,  his  thinking  is  permeated 
with  a  teleological  tendency  quite  alien  from  the  "brute  causation"  of 
the  hl-logi5t. 


li- 


f' 

t 
T.'    > 


rr:: 


806 


SOCIALISM 


■■<^ 


••  •v-j 


••r  i 


.» 


valent  of  his  product,  less  the  necessary  social  deductions, 
his  product  being  rated  on  a  labor-time  basis.'  The  main 
difference  between  this  and  the  preceding  variation  seems 
to  be  that  the  one  gives  the  worker  the  whole  product  of 
his  labor,  the  other,  the  whole  product  minus  a  propor- 
tionate reduction  for  public  purposes.  It  is  no  clearer  in 
the  one  case  than  in  the  other  how  that  whole  product  is 
to  be  isolated  and  determined.  Three  fourths  of  x  is  as 
elusive  as  x. 

^Vithout  demanding  the  impossibly  precise  adjustment 
of  work  and  reward  provided  in  these  proposals,  many 
socialists  favor  the  principle  underlying  them.  It  may  be 
impossible  to  ascertain  the  absolute  contribution  made  by 
any  factor  to  the  product,  but  relative  eflBciency  as  between 
units  of  the  same  factor  is  a  matter  of  everyday  computa- 
tion. It  would  be  possible  to  discriminate  between  eflBcient 
and  ineflScient  service,  to  estimate  the  comparative  social 
utility  of  different  occupations  and  to  adjust  the  payment 
accordingly.  The  variations  of  income  would,  however, 
be  less  than  to-day  because  of  the  equalization  of  oppor- 
tunity and  the  abolition  of  all  privileges  except  the 
privilege  of  ability.  This  frank  recognition  of  the  superior 
claims  of  ability  is  especially  distinctive  of  many  present- 
day  English  socialists. 

From  the  standpoint  of  practicability  this  position  seems 
the  soundest  yet  discussed.  So  far  as  it  can  be  deter- 
mined, eflSciency  must  be  the  primary  consideration  in 


'  "  Accordinjily  the  single  producer  (after  the  deduction)  receives  back 
exactly  what  he  gives  to  it.  For  example,  the  s(x;ial  workday  consists  of 
the  sum  of  individual  working  hours;  the  indi\-idual  working  time  of  the 
single  producer  is  that  part  of  the  social  workday  furnished  by  him,  his 
share  of  it.  He  receives  from  society  a  receipt  that  he  has  furnished  so 
and  so  much  work  (after  the  deduction  from  liis  work  for  the  common 
funds)  and  with  this  receipt  he  draws  out  of  the  .social  supply  of  the  means 
of  consumption  as  much  as  costs  an  equal  amount  of  work.  The  same 
amount  of  work  which  he  has  civen  society  in  one  form,  he  receives  back 
in  another  forn)."  — On  tk«  Gotka  Prograwime,  p.  648. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


207 


the  adjustment  of  reward.  It  cannot,  however,  be  made 
the  sole  consideration.  The  desire  to  base  reward  solely 
upon  eflBciency  is  incompatible  with  the  necessity  which 
socialists  have  been  forced  to  recognize  of  equalizing  the 
advantages  of  different  trades  to  secure  an  equilibrium 
of  labor-supply.  If  wages  are  lowered  in  the  crowded 
callings  and  raised  in  the  shunned,  they  will  be  inversely 
proportional  to  the  attractivenes^s  of  the  calling.  If,  then, 
the  wage  paid  must  also  be  in  direct  projjortion  to  the  ef- 
ficiency of  the  service,  this  can  only  Ix^  if  the  efficiency  of 
labor  to  society  and  its  attractiveness  to  the  workc  vary 
inversely.  This  would  be  to  exalt  into  a  national  standard 
of  justice  the  proposition  held  firmly  by  many  old  dames 
that  the  efficacy  of  castor  oil  and  other  medicines  is  to 
be  rated  inversely  to  the  pleasantness  of  their  taste. 
Clea.ly  such  equalization  of  advantages  does  away  with 
the  possibility  of  proportioning  work  and  reward  in  ideal 
fashion.  Clearly  it  is  needed  to  make  the  machinery 
work.  There  is  no  other  recourse  than  to  adopt  the  ex- 
isting basis  of  distribution. 

Distribution  of  income  to-day  is  not  effected  in  accord- 
ance with  any  abstract  principle  of  justice.  It  is  a  matter 
of  bargaining  power,  of  relative  indispensableness,  of  abil- 
ity to  make  good  a  claim  to  sharing  by  the  threat  of  with- 
drawal. So  far  as  the  division  of  reward  between  the  differ- 
ent factors  of  production  is  concerned,  the  share  that  falls 
to  labor,  for  example,  is  determined  by  the  proportion  of 
labor-force  available  relatively  to  the  supply  of  land  and  of 
capital  and  of  entrepreneur  ability;  by  the  relative  degree 
of  organization,  efficient  leadership,  and  financial  staying- 
power;  by  the  extent  of  alternative  opportunities;  by  the 
existence  of  recognized  standards  of  living,  affecting  pub- 
lic sentiment,  strengthening  union  resistance,  or  setting 
limits  to  employers'  demands;  and  by  every  other  fact  in 
the  complex  industrial  situation  which  makes  for  or 
jigaiust  bargaining  strength.  So  far,  again,  as  the  rewards 


fi 


ill 


4 


'-  'I 


i: 


208 


SOCIALISM 


of  workers  in  different  occupations  are  concerned,  they 
vary  to  some  extent  with  the  grade  of  ability,  the  rareness 
or  abundance  of  the  quahties  required,  and  within  strata 
of  approximately  equal  ability,  they  vaiy  in  the  one  direc- 
tion according  as  barriers  of  expensive  education  or  trade- 
union  or  profession-imposed  test   make   membership  a 
special  privilege,  and  in  the  other  according  as  the  agrefv 
ableness  of  the  work  or  the  social  prestige  attached  draws 
superabundant  applicants;  in  short,  they  vary  with  every 
circumstance  which  affects  demand  and  supply  relations 
or  otherwise  determines  relative  bargaining  strength.    So 
far,  finally,  as  the  rewards  of  workers  in  the  same  occupa- 
tion are  concerned,  they  vary  with  efliciency,  to  the  extent 
that  efficiency  may  be  determined.   Tried  by  any  of  the 
conflicting  socialist  standards  of  justice,  this  system  of 
distribution  is  far  from  perfect.    Yet  it  may  be  said  to 
combine  in  a  fair  measure  what  is  valid  in    -ach  of  the 
ideals  set  forth,  and  it  can  be  made  to  conform  more  closely 
without  abandoning  the  flexible  demand  and  supply  ad- 
justment which  makes  possible  the  smooth  working  of  the 
industrial  order.    Equali+y.  indeed,  it  does  not  secure; 
much  may  be  done  to  bring  about  greater  equality  of  op- 
portunity; given  a  fair  field,  the  inequalities  of  achieve- 
ment and  of  reward  that  result  are  not  open  to  valid  crit- 
icism.   Needs  are  partially  recognized  by  the  provision, 
within  the  limits  suggested,  of  services  in  common,  and  by 
the  growing  stress  laid  on  the  standard  of  living  and  a  liv- 
ing wage.    Service,  so  far  as  ascertainable,  is  made  a  de- 
termining factor  in  reward.  The  criticism  to  be  directed 
against  the  socialist  position  on  this  subject,  is  not  that 
there  is  no  merit  in  the  ideals  set  forth.   It  is,  rather, 
that  none  of  the  standards  of  justice  is  itself  an  adequate 
interpretation  of  justice,  and  that  no  abstract  standard  of 
justice  can  be  adopted  as  a  practicable  basis  of  distribu- 
tion. Further,  when  ethical  standards  are  agreed  upon,  it  is 
possible,  within  the  limits  of  the  existing  order,  to  secure 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


209 


a  rough  approximation  to  them;  it  is  possible,  by  strength- 
ening this  or  that  factor,  to  alter  the  resultant  of  forces, 
hereby  enlarging  educational  opportunity,  thereby  giving 
freer  play  to  union  activity,  without  endeavoring  entirely 
to  supersede  the  play  of  forces  by  rigid  governmental 
rationing.  Society's  best  hope  lies  in  continuing  to  moralize 
the  laws  of  supply  and  demand,  not  in  endeavoring  to  dis- 
regard them. 

Grant,  it  may  be  urged,  that  the  basis  of  distribution 
remains  the  same;  the  important  fact  remains  that  the 
product  to  be  distributed  will  be  so  great  as  to  yield  a 
vastly  greater  dividend  to  the  average  worker.  This  raises 
the  problem  of  problems  which  faces  the  socialist  common- 
wealth, the  maintenance  of  efficiency.  For  in  the  long  run 
the  stability  of  a  socialist  commonwealth  would  depend 
more  on  its  success  in  the  field  of  production  than  on  its 
justice  in  the  field  of  distribution.  The  source  of  social 
discontent  to-day  is  the  great  gap  between  the  material 
demands  men  make  on  life  and  the  actual  share  that  falls  to 
their  lot.  A  readjustment  of  values,  the  laying  less  stress 
on  abundance  of  goods  and  chattels,  the  introduction  of 
the  simple  life,  might  aid  by  lowering  the  upper  demand 
level,  but  it  is  not  this  way  socialist  desires  run.  For 
socialism  the  gap  must  be  filled  by  raising  the  supply 
level,  increasing  the  goods  and  services  in  the  national 
dividend.  How  may  this  be  done? 

The  popular  socialist  view  is  that  under  the  new 
dispensation  the  huge  share  of  wealth  now  annually  an- 
propriated  by  the  ca|)italist  class  would  be  available  for 
distribution  amon^  the  workers,  to  their  great  easement. 
"Unfortunately,"  as  Kautsky  reminds  tlie  more  optimistic 
brethren,  "things  are  not  to  be  done  so  simplv.  When  we 
expropriate  capital,  we  must  at  the  same  time  take  over 
its  social  functions"'  —  social  functions  of  which  little 
was  heard  when  the  capitalist  was  being  denounced  as 
'  Kautsky,  The  Social  Revolution,  p.  136. 


^-t! 


4    , 


210 


SOCULISM 


a  robber  and  exploiter  of  other  men's  toil.  The  capitalist, 
great  or  small,  is  to-day  cherjjed  with  the  important  obliga- 
tion of  i)rovidiug  out  of  his  income  the  capital  necessary 
for  the  extension  and  development  of  industry.  It  is  prob- 
able that  one  third  of  the  total  income  of  the  American 
capitalist  is  at  onre  reinvested  in  production.  This  service, 
which  superficial  critics  are  prone  to  overlook  entirely, 
would,  under  socialism,  necessarily  be  assumed  by  society 
as  a  whole.  From  the  total  product  there  nmst  first,  then, 
be  made  the  large  deduction  necessary  for  the  carrying- 
on  of  industry.  Further,  on  the  assumption  that  com- 
pensation rather  than  confiscation  will  be  adopted,  and 
the  more  gradual  and  political  the  method  by  which  social- 
ism is  attained  the  more  inevitable  is  the  choice  of  com- 
pensation, there  must  be  made  large  deductions  for  the 
payment  of  the  interest  due  the  former  owners  of  the  cap- 
ital appropriated.  No  fraction  of  this  income  can  l)e 
directly  applied,  under  a  socialist  regime,  to  reinvestment; 
it  must  perforce  be  sj)ent  in  consumption  goods  and  society 
as  a  whole  he  burdened  with  the  double  task  of  providing 
capital  and  providing  for  the  ex-capitalist. »  Kautsky  is 
only  facing  the  inevitable  when  he  admits  that  there  is 
little  possibility  of  raising  the  workers'  rewards  from  this 
source  and  that  their  only  hope  of  betterment  lies  in  an 
increase  of  production  beyond  the  present  level.* 

Under  the  existing  system,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind, 
this  betterment  by  the  improvement  of  production  is  not 
merely  a  vague  dream  but  an  actual  and  continuing  reality. 
The  increase  in  the  world's  wealth  is  constant  and  sub- 
stantial, at  least  a  proportionate  share  falling  to  the  work- 
ing classes.    What  possibilities  of  increased  production  has 

*  See  page  184,  supra. 

'  "There  is  none  too  much  remaininR  over  from  the  present  income  of 
the  capit;ilist  even  if  we  confiscate  capital  at  one  stroive.  There  is  even 
less  if  we  wisli  to  compensate  the  capitalist.  It  would  then  be  absolutely 
necessary  if  we  were  to  raise  the  wages  of  labor  to  raise  production  above 
its  present  amount."  —  Op.  ri'.,  p,  136. 


^fm:^^^^ 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


211 


socialism  to  offer  to  compare  with  these  realities?  In  the 
first  place,  it  is  hoi)cd,  the  productivity  of  labor  could  be 
increased  by  concentrating?  work  in  the  largest  and  most 
perfect  industrial  plants  and  throwing  the  rest  out  of  serv- 
ice.'  This   appears  theoretically  (juite  feasible.    It  is,  a.s 
the  references  to  trust  precedents  show,  a  tendency  which 
is  actually  at  work  in  existing  society,  and  its  pace  might 
well  be  accelerated,  were  industrial  rather  than  financial 
considerations  upi)erniost.    The  conclusion  that  the  pro- 
ductivity of  society  might  be  doubled  or  tripled  in  this 
manner,  however,  rests  on  a  neglect  of  the  increased  capital 
outlay  required  for  the  larger  works,  and  on  the  unwar- 
ranted assumption  of  the  applicability  of  large-scale  pro- 
duction to  the  whole  field  of  industry.  Incidentally  it  may 
be  queried  how  in   these  huge  factories,  organized  like 
clockwork,  Mr.  Keir  Hardie's  lamenting  workman^  is  to 
escape  from  the  minute  and  rigid  tliscipline  complex  organ- 
ization entails,  or  what  becomes  of  the  visions  of  all-round 
versatility  based  on  suppression  of  division  of  labor?  Again, 
it  is  hoped  that  increased  pro<lurtivity  will  result  from  the 
alK>lition  of  parasitic  industry-,  the  diversion  of  the  super- 
fluous hosts  of  middlemen  to  more  productive  employment. 
Assuming  that  the  allegation  of  parasitism  is  sound,  and 
not  merely  evidence  of  failure  to  comprehend  the  service 
rendered  by  a  fully  developed  specialization  of  labor,  it 
may  be  doubted  whether  the  saving  claimed  would  not  be 
more  than  offset  by  the  expense  of  Iceping  up  the  host  of 
officials  required  to  maintain  equilibrium  between  supply 
and  demand.   The  parasitical  statistician  would  lie  little 
improvement  on  the  parasitical  middleman. 

There  is  here  little  promise  that  the  productivity  of 

industrj'    would    be    appreciably    increased    beyond    the 

present  level,  less  that  it  would  increase  faster  than  it  is 

doing  year  by  year  under  existing  conditions.   Is  there,  in 

«  Bfbel,  op.  cit..  p.  280;  Kautsky,  op.  cit..  p.  137. 

•    Page  31,  SZifTii. 


i 


■ra 


■?:     I« 


212 


SOCULKM 


m\ 


fact  any  warrant  for  a-ssuminR  that  the  pw^sent  efficiency 
would  be  ma.nta.ned?    Grant  that  .h,  far  a.s  the  formd 
organ.zat.on  goes,  with  the  whole  available  p<,pulation 
enro  led  ,n  prcx  urt.ve  employn.ent.  and  concx-ntrated  in 
he  largest  and  l>est-e<,uipM  establishments,  the  Mxialist 
ma,h,nery  would  be  adequate;  the  all-i„,,K,rtant  question 
rema.,is.  what  motor-force  would  be  available  to  drive  it? 
Were  the  organ.zation  never  so  perfect  on  paper,  the  col- 
Iec.t.v.st  state  could  survive  only  if  the  ml'T/orcesTn- 
fluencng  the  .nd.v.dual  workers  wer«  approa^hably  as 
strong  as  those  .n  ojn^ration  to-day.   For  what-^        it  may 
work  of  .1    the  existing  institution  of  private  property 
supphes  th.s  absolutely  needful  stimulus.    It  has  g^wn 
up  and  flounshed  because  nx,ted  in  imperishable  quakes 
of  hun.an  nature     It  dikes  and  concentrates  individual 
energy,  mak.ng  the  connection  between  the  activity  and 
the  ,,.atenal  welfare  of  the  worker  and  his  family  circle 
direc    and  compelling.    It  acts  on  one  man  through  hs 
amb.t.o«forpree„..„ence  and  power,  on  another  through 
h.    less  vaultmg  hopes  of  fireside  comfort  and  hol,bies 
satjsfied.  on  others,  lacking     ,11  opportunity,  capacity   or 
an,l.t.on.  by  their  grip  on  bare  existence     The  sudde" 
spurts  of  patnotjc  fervor  or  rcli.gious  zeal  may  supplement 
b..t  cannot   rep  ac-e  this  silent,  eternal,  pc.ist.,      force 
The  emphasis,  the  over-emphasis,  which  Marx  laid  on  the 
econonnc  factor  m  history  was  only  a  recognition  of  thil 

A  socialist  commonwealth  could  offer  no  guarantee  for 
efficen  production  comparable  to  this,  ^at  would  be 
pu  m  ,ts  place?  Heightened  zeal  for  the  common  weal? 
Perhaps  for  a  rare  minority,  but  for  most  men  zeal  for 
humanity  spreads  thin  once  the  circle  of  familv  and  friends 
•s  passed.  The  readiness  of  soldiers  to  die  for  their  coun! 
try  wh.ch  Vandervelde  hopefully  cites.^  does  not  promise 
a  willingness  of  workers  to  live  for  their  count^'.  unbuoyed 
_        •  Op.  <nt.,  p.  183;  urged  as  supplement,  uot  a.-,  .nubstitute. 


;•  '^' 


1'    .MW'-i  .vmfttirA 


I 


^SlOu^;^Lllt^«^ 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


US 


up  by  the  blare  of  trumpet  and  the  momentary  lust  of 
buttle.  Mutual  .suiR-rvision,  actuated  by  the  interest  each 
has  in  the  increa.s(»  of  the  national  divdend?  Again  too 
diffused  a  force,  eifective,  if  at  all.  only  against  the  most 
flagrant  individual  dereliction  ,  not  against  the  more 
gradual  and  more  serious  slackening  and  soldiering  all 
along  the  line.  The  instinct  of  workmanship?  I'ossibly, 
if  every  man  could  l)e  detailed  to  work  on  his  own  hobbies, 
or  if  handicraft  conditions  returned;  but  in  Ilerr  Kautsky's 
huger  steel  mills  and  more  highly  sjjecialized  textile  fac- 
tories of  the  future  what  greater  scoik;  for  the  instinct 
of  workmanship  than  to-day?  "Ambition,  the  desire  to 
occupy  the  highest  places  in  the  hierarchy  of  lal)or?"» 
A  powerful  force,  but  it  is  rather  naive  to  imagine  that 
the  highest  places  in  the  hierarchy  of  labor  will  necessarily 
go  to  the  hardest  workers,  rather  than,  when  all  business 
becomes  politics,  to  the  most  adroit  |)olitician,  the  hangers- 
on  of  the  huge  national  machine  of  the  socialistic  l)oss,  or, 
if  commission  bureaucracy  is  installed,  to  the  hierarchical 
favorites.  More  broadly,  emulation,  'the  desire  to  excel 
and  earn  the  recognition  of  their  fellow  men?  "  -  It  is  urged 
with  much  force  that  men  strive  for  pecuniary  success 
because  in  a  conii)etitive  society  pecuniary  success  Is  the 
evidence  and  seal  of  ability  and  prowess,  the  readiest 
means  to  the  end  of  rcto|L^nit;an;  under  s(K'";?!:>m,  they  will 
continue  to  strive  for  the  same  end,  the  recognition  of  their 
fellows,  even  though  the  present  intermediary  standards 
of  pecuniary  achievement  are  discarded.  Undoubtedly 
this  spirit  of  emulation  underlies  much  of  the  activity  of 
the  western  world,  though  it  should  not  be  stressed  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  primary  need  for  subsistence,  the  desire 
for  comforts  and  luxuries,  the  thirst  for  the  power  and 
leverage  pecuniary  success  can  give.  Money  is  not  merely 
a  counter  in  the  game  of  success,  or  poke  -  and  bridge 

'  VandiTVflde,  oji.  cit.,  p.  18)4. 
•  Hillquit,  op.  cit..  p.  Ho. 


^ 


m 


£14 


SOCIALISM 


1  i: ; 

'.1  i 


1^>. 


would  give  less  occasion  for  of?ense  to  the  moralists.  So 
far  as  it  does  motive  activity,  there  is  no  warrant  for  be- 
lieving that  under  socialism  it  would  suffice  to  enforce 
socially  desirable  activity.  The  baseball  hero,  the  cham- 
pion pugilist,  the  strutting  warrior,  the  political  demagogue 
might  receive  the  crown  of  wild  olives  which  in  the  paper 
scheme  was  meant  for  the  worthy  head  clerk  in  the  Sev- 
enty-third District's  Statistical  Bureau.'  Why  assume  that 
natural  harmony  of  social  and  individual  interest  which 
the  socialist  critic  has  so  frequently  denied?    Discrepan- 
cies will  exist  whether  the  end  sought  by  the  individual  is 
kudos  or  is  cash.   The  misdirection  of  public  judgment  and 
taste  which  the  social  student  deplores  will  work  equally 
disastrously  whether  acting  directly  in  determininjr  to 
\7hora  honor  shall   be  paid,  or  indirectly  in  determming 
what  warcK  or  services  are  to  be  purchased  and  which  pur- 
suits be  made  most  profitable.  So  long  as  the  social  stand- 
ards of  what  is  meritorious  and  worthy  of  applause  are 
not  changed,  and  there  is  no  ground  for  assuming  that  a 
regeneration  of  human  nature  will  follow  the  mere  substi- 
tution of  the  state  for  the  individual  as  owner,  tliere  can  be 
no  important  difference  in  the  direction  in  which  activity 
is  directed;  there  will,  however,  be  a  disastrous  difference 
in  the  intensity,  once  the  motive  of  winning  recognition 
IS  made  ihe  sole  dependence  and  the  motive  of  pecuniary 
success  .s  discarded. 

There  is,  then,  little  likelihood  that  the  socialist  state 
could  surpass  or  ever  equal  the  existing  order  as  an  instru- 
ment of  production.  There  is  little  likelihood  that  it  could 
consistently  work  out  a  more  just  and  practicable  method 
of  distribution.  \nd,  on  the  other  hand,  to  attain  this 
barren  result,  we  are  invited  to  set  up  an  industrial  system 
which  has  serioi^s  positive  defects.    Most  serious  is  the 

'  "Each  ont  is  animated  hy  the  desire  for  sorial  esteem;  but  it  is  tie 
estex-ra  of  those  ,.bout  hi,n.  the  esteem  of  his  own  class  which  governs  his 
conduct.    —  Lly.  Socialism  end  Social  Reform,  p.  229 


AtiE  MODERN  'SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


215 


danger  that  in  abolishing  competition  we  should  abolish 
liberty.  No  amount  of  assurance  given  to-day  by  socialists 
thai  they  do  not  wish  to  sacrifice  liberty  can  avert  that 
danger.  In  the  centralized,  all-powerful  state  which  is 
the  only  organ  that  could  do  away  with  what  the  socialist 
terms  the  anarchy  of  prcd'  .  tion.  and  what  he  terms  the 
exploitation  of  labor,  {.ecdc-ni  anu  lijx'bility  would  vanish. 
The  worker  might  ch(  so  LeLwccn  cnployments;  he  could 
not  choose  between  e^.;)!  iv  rs.  lie  wc  .Id  be  but  one  cog 
in  an  inconceivably  complex  rTjn.,Line.  When  all  uncon- 
scious cooperation  had  been  made  conscious,  when  all  the 
vast  activity  of  the  nation  was  made  to  pass  in  review 
before  the  central  authority  and  receive  the  indispensable 
stamp  of  oflScial  regularity,  individual  initiative  would  be 
cramped  to  the  uttermost  and  social  progress  made  cum- 
bersome and  slow.  To  the  consumer,  the  limitation  of 
range  in  products  and  the  lack  of  enterprise  and  experi- 
ment would  prove  intolerable.  Especially  dangerous  would 
be  the  control  of  the  oif:,ans  of  opinion.  One  of  the  most 
disquieting  features  of  the  present  time  is  the  grip  which 
predatory  interests  have  on  a  large  part  of  the  press,  the 
paralyzing  influence  of  the  advertising  on  the  editorial 
department.  But  to-day  there  is  outlet  possible  for  any 
group  of  enthusiasts  seeking  expression.  Unde'  an  in- 
dividualist regime  socialist  papers  rise  and  flourish. 
Under  a  socialist  regime  would  individualist  heretics  find 
as  easy  utterance?  Would  the  *  Capital"  of  the  revolution- 
ary Marx  of  the  future  receive  the  Imprimatur  of  the 
state  printing  bureau?  Discontent,  now  scattered  among 
scores  of  individual  offenders,  would  then  be  concentrated 
on  the  state  as  sole  offender,  but  its  legal  and  peaceful 
expression  would  be  made  more  diflicult.  To-day  liberty 
is  to  many  made  a  mockery  by  lack  of  equipment  for 
the  struggle,  but  the  best  way  to  make  it  real,  to  equalize 
opportunity,  is  not  to  set  up  a  system  which  denies  liberty 
to  all. 


,'f.st 


.■I  ■  _ 


jp* 


«Bi- 


M 


i^%\ 


210 


SOCLVLISM 


If  we  turn  to  consider  the  fate  of  the  institution  of  the 
family  in  a  eollectivist  state,  we  find  the  same  UkeHhood 
that  in  the  effort  to  remedy  an  evil  whieh  Ix^sets  the  few  it 
will  be  extended  to  all.  Socialists  with  some  justice  resent 
the  popular  criticism  directed  against  the  exponents  of 
"free  love"  within  their  ranks,  from  Bebel  to  Carpenter, 
on  the  ground  that  so  far  as  theory  goes,  the  party  as  a 
whole  has  never  coni-iitted  itself  to  such  proposals,  and 
that  in  practice  there  is  no  greater  deviation  from  the 
standards  of  monogamous  morality  among  socialists  than 
among  non-socialists.  This  may  well  he  granted;  granted, 
tcM\  the  justice  of  nuich  of  the  socialist  counter-criticism 
of  th<>  comjH^titive  coiulitions  which  for  many  make  decent 
family  life  difficult  or  impossible.  The  fact  remains,  how- 
ever, that  quite  aside  from  what  may  be  the  practice  or  the 
theory  of  individual  socialists  to-day.  the  inevitable  result 
of  the  establishment  of  the  socialist  regnne  would  be  the 
universal  breaking-up  of  the  family  relation.    Inevitably 
the  family  would  Ix-  <  rushed  Ix'tween  individual  selfishness 
and  state  interference,  the  care  of  children  would  more  and 
more  be  made  a  state  affair,  family  life  would  be  emptied 
of  its  responsibilitic   as  well  as  its  privileges,  of  its  burdens 
as  well  as  of  its  joys,  i\nd  marriage,  with  this  source  of 
ix?rmancnce  removed,  become  a  temporarj-  and  arbitrary' 
relation.    What  future  transformations  the  institution  of 
the  family  may  he  fated  to  undergo  none  can  prophesy, 
but  this  is  certain,  that  recent  discussion  has  only  tended 
to  strengthen  the  view  that  no  substitute  yet  proposed  can 
vie  with  it  in  social  utility,  as  a  source  of  moral  discipline, 
a  means  of  socializing  our  thinking  and  of  giving  the  ideals 
of  fraternity  instinct,  rather  than  paper  mandates,  for 
their  basis.   Any  industrial  revolution  which  involves  the 
undermining  of  the  family,  rather  than  its  reinforcement 
on  firmer  foundations,  which  involves  the  substitution  of 
the  clumsy,  external  barracks  methods  of  the  state,  which 
makes  the  bureaucrat  the  universal  mother  and  the  stat* 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


217 


one  vast  orphan  asylum,  on  that  ground  alone  stands  hope- 
lessly condemned.' 

'  The  diversity  if  views  on  this  subject  within  the  socialist  ranks  may 
be  indicated  by  the  following  citations  from  representative  spokesmen  of 
the  British  socialist  movement;  so  far  as  the  majority  of  the  rank  and  file 
are  concerned,  it  is  probable  that  the  third  quotation  most  nearly  repre- 
sents their  opinions  — 

"The  present  marriage  system  was  based  on  the  general  supposition  of 
the  economic  dependence  of  the  woman  on  the  man,  and  the  consequent 
necessity  for  his  making  provision  for  her  which  she  can  legally  enforce. 
This  basis  would  disappear  with  the  advent  of  social  economic  freedom, 
and  no  binding  contract  would  be  necessary  between  the  parties  as  re- 
gards livelihood;  while  property  in  children  would  cease  to  exist,  and 
every  infant  that  came  into  the  world  would  be  bom  into  full  citizenship 
and  would  enjoy  all  its  advantages,  whatever  the  conduct  of  its  parents 
might  be.  Thus  a  new  development  of  the  family  would  take  place,  on 
the  basis  not  of  a  predetermined,  lifelong  business  arrangement  to  be 
formally  and  nominally  held  to,  irrespective  of  circumstances,  but  on 
mutual  inclination  and  affection,  an  association  terminable  at  the  will  of 
either  party.  There  would  be  no  vestigo  of  reprobation  weighing  on  the 
dis.solution  of  one  tie  and  the  forming  of  another."  —  Morris  and  Bax, 
Socialitm:  its  Growth  and  Outcome,  p.  199. 

"Socialism,  in  fact,  is  the  state  family.  The  old  family  of  the  prvate 
individual  must  vanish  before  it,  just  as  the  old  waterworks  of  private 
enterprise,  or  the  old  gas  company.  They  are  incompatible  with  it.  So- 
cialism assails  the  triumphant  egotism  of  the  family  to-day,  just  as  Chris- 
tianity did  in  its  earlier  and  more  vital  centuries.  So  far  as  English  social- 
ism is  concerned  (and  the  thing  is  still  more  the  case  in  America),  I  must 
confess  that  the  assault  has  displayed  a  quite  extraordinary  instinct  for 
taking  cover,  but  that  is  a  question  of  tactics  rather  than  of  essential 
antagonism.  .  .  .  Socialism  denies  altogether  the  right  of  any  one  to 
beget  children  carelessly  and  promiscuously;  and  for  the  prevention  of 
disease  and  evil  births  alike,  the  Socialist  is  prepared  for  an  insistence 
upon  intelligence  and  self-restraint  quite  beyond  the  current  practice. 
.  .  .  The  state  will  pay  for  children  bom  legitimately  in  the  marriage  it 
will  sanction.  A  woman  with  healthy  and  successful  offspring  will  draw 
a  wage  for  each  one  of  them  from  the  state,  so  long  as  they  go  on  well."  — 
H.  G.  Wells,  Sorialism  and  the  Family,  pp.  30,  38. 

Mr.  Ramsay  Macdonald.  after  showing  the  weakness  of  the  pseudo- 
scientific  contentions  of  earlier  socialists  that  the  family  was  fated  to 
disappear,  continues:  "The  bearing  of  children  sometimes  is,  and  some- 
times is  not,  a  social  function.  If  it  is  to  Ik*  regarded  as  such,  the  state 
surely  ought  to  have  some  power  of  control  before  it  is  asked  to  pay  the 
bills,  but  that  is  quite  impossible.  Approached  from  this  point  of  view, 
the  proposal  to  endow  mothers  appears  to  be  an  outburst  of  au  lusane 


'  '>! 


n 


i^'  .  •'■ 

■ ,,    Mi 

-  -                          / 

1. 

1 

iii< 

218 


SOCIALISM 


Closely  connected  is  the  difficulty  of  overpopulation 
Avhicli  any  collcctivist  state  must  fa(v.   The  in  iity  of 

an  expansion  of  population  which  would  takt  ,)  all  the 
slack  in  the  advance  secunul,  is  one  which  socialists  have 
preferred  to  endeavor  to  ridicule  than  to  answer.  It  is  true 
that  since  Malthas  wrote  his  "  Essay  on  Population  "  to 
make  this  point  against  the  socialist  dreamers  of  perfection 
in  his  day,  the  counteracting  tendencies  to  which  he  then 
attached  too  little  weight  have  brought  it  about  that  it  is 
not  overpopulation  but  race  suicide  which  worries  us  to- 
day. Growing  prosix^rity  has  made,  not  for  a  higher,  but 
for  a  lower,  birth-rate.  But  this  has  lx>en  so  simply  because 
of  the  predominatingly  individualist  structure  of  society. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  the  chief  factor  in  the  decrease 
oi  the  birth-rate  has  been  the  prudence  inspired  by  the 
desire  to  rise  in  the  world,  now  that  democracy  and  wider 
economic  opportunity  have  made  the  climbing  possible. 
"The  barriers  of  caste  are  down.  .  .  .  Wide  stairways  are 
opened  between  the  social  levels  and  men  are  exhorted  to 
climb  if  they  can.  In  such  case  prudence  forbids  whatever 
will  impede  his  ascent  or  imperil  his  social  standing.  To 
the  climber,  children  are  encumbrances,  and  so  the  am- 
bitious dread  the  handicap  of  an  early  marriage  and  a 
large  family."  •  Remove  this  connection  between  individ- 
ual prudence  and  individual  comfort,  and  you  have  re- 
moved the  most  potent  check  on  overpopulation.  Only 
by  the  protecting  dike  of  private  property  is  an  inundation 
of  misery  averted.  Probably  the  nejct  most  important 
cause  of  the  decrease  has  been  the  emancipation  of  women 
and  the  consequent  greater  weight  attached  to  the  woman's 
reluctance  to  be  burdened  by  the  confining  cares  of  a 
large  family.    Here  also  a  socialist  regime,  with  its  com- 

indi\-idualism  claiming  the  right  of  a  man  or  woman  to  exercise  a  selfish 
will  without  n^straint."  —  Sociali.im  and  Gnrernmrnt.  ii,  p.  148. 

'  Ross,  Western  Cirilizaiion  and  the  Birrh-Rate,  Publicatioos,  Americao 
Economic  Association,  Third  Series,  viii,  no.  1,  p.  80. 


W, 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  IDEAL 


219 


1^ 


vcn  .lal  care  of  children,  would  weaken  the  check.  The 
only  alternatives  would  be  an  overwhelming  flood  of 
population  or  the  exercise  by  the  state  of  that  claim  to 
control  all  births  which,  as  Mr.  Ramsay  Macdonald  de- 
clares, is  "quite  impossible." 

But,  some  will  feel,  it  matters  little  whether  socialism  is 
desirable  or  undesirable;  what  matters  is  —  if  socialist 
forecasts  are  true,  and  the  rapid  expansion  of  national  and 
municipal  ownership  give  them  plausibility  —  t'-at  social- 
ism is  inevitable.  To  many,  the  spectre  of  manifest  destiny 
makes  argument  unavailing,  in  spite  of  the  constant  un- 
willingness of  fact  to  conform  to  the  future  confidently 
mapped  out  by  the  self-appointed  soothsayers  of  manifest 
destiny.  In  bringing  this  brief  review  of  the  possibilities 
of  a  coUectivist  state  to  a  close,  a  word  may  be  said  on  this 
score.  The  essential  fact  to  be  borne  in  mind  is  the  re- 
latively limited  area  within  which  national  or  municipal 
ownership  has  approved  itself.  It  is  in  the  important,  but 
hmited,  area  of  public  utilities,  of  strategic  industries,  that 
public  ownership  has  its  field;  and  in  this  field  it  is  only  an 
alternative  to  the  expedient  of  public  regulation,  an  ex- 
pedient which  is  only  beginning  to  be  given  adequate  test. 
Further,  it  is  not  permissible  to  deduce  from  the  establish- 
ment or  the  success  of  a  limited  number  of  public  industries 
the  inevitability  or  the  success  of  universal  public  industry. 
A  limited  degree  of  public  ownership  succeeds  simply  be- 
cause it  is  a  limited  degree,  succeeds  because  private  in- 
dustry, in  individual  forms  or  in  the  socialized  joint-stock 
form,  dominates  the  field  as  a  whole.  It  is  private  industry 
that  provides  the  capital,  private  industry  that  trains  the 
men  and  tries  out  the  methods,  private  industry-  that  sets 
the  pace,  and  —  not  least  of  its  services  —  private  indus- 
trj'  that  provides  the  ever-possible  outlet  for  escape.  As 
Hesiod  sang  nearly  thirty  centuries  ago,  the  half  is  greater 
than  the  whole. 


if 


■  fl 


I    ti 


a 


^i 


.w 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE   MODERN    SOCIALIST   MOVEMENT 


^  ii 


The  Utopian  tactics  of  Fourier  and  Owen,  of  Samt-Simon 
and  the  Saint-Simonists,  met,  we  have  seen,  with  little 
direct  success.  The  appeal  made  to  all  men  of  good  will, 
irrespective  of  class  or  of  rank,  had  fallen  on  deaf  ears. 
Sweet  reasonableness  and  community  experiment  had  done 
little  to  raije  socialism  out  of  sectarian  weakness  and  iso- 
lation. The  time  had  come  for  a  radical  change  of  front. 
The  new  leaders  of  socialism  were  to  seek  victory  by  mak- 
ing the  working  classes  their  sole  constituency  and  the 
class  war  their  only  policy. 

The  new  tactics  were  not  merely  the  reflection  of  the 
more  aggressive  temperament  of  the  new  leaders.  The 
personal  qualities  and  the  intellectual  preconceptions  of 
Marx  and  Lassalle,  of  the  men  of  the  Communist  League 
and  the  International,  doubtless  had  important  and  last- 
ing influence  on  the  character  of  the  movement,  but  in 
the  main  the  truth  is  rather  that  the  changed  objective 
conditions  demandeci  leaders  of  a  new  type.  The  revolu- 
tion in  the  industrial  world  called  for  social  and  political 
readjustment.  The  days  of  handicraft  were  passing,  the 
evor  increasing  scale  of  machine  production  put  individual 
ownership  of  factory  or  railroad  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
vast  majority  of  workers.  New  policies  to  meet  the  new 
situation  were  taking  shape;  cooperation,  trade  union 
action,  legislative  regulation,  were  all  being  put  to  the  test. 
Most  radical  of  all  proposals  was  the  socialist's  panacea  of 
collective  ownership  and  operation  of  rll  industry.  The 
task  which  awaited  the  coming  leaders  of  socialism  was 
to  divert  the  hopes  and  ambitions  of  the  working  classes 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       «21 


into  the  latter  channel,  to  arouse  the  contented  and  per- 
suade the  discontented  that  here  or  nowhere  was  salvation. 

In  this  attempt  to  unite  the  socialist  ideal  and  the  labor 
movement,  Marx  played  the  foremost  part.^  Of  the  revo- 
lutionary spirits  of  his  day,  none  surpassed  him  in  dynamic 
energy  or  resolute  fidelity,  none  equaled  him  in  the  grasp 
of  social  tendencies  or  the  strength  and  coherence  of  con- 
viction. His  analysis  of  past  and  present  revealed  the 
whole  world  process  as  unceasing  class  struggle.  In  the 
future,  as  in  the  past,  progress  must  come  through  the 
efforts  of  the  oppressed  class  to  secure  the  dominance  to 
which  the  changing  industrial  conditions  predestined  it. 

Predestined.''  It  is  difficult  to  discover  how  far  Marx 
and  his  followers  were  fatalists,  Calvinists  minus  God, 
and  how  far  confident  of  their  power  to  mould  fate.  A 
deep  consciousness  of  the  blind  inevitableness  of  economic 
evolution,  and  of  the  folly  of  attempting  to  alter  one  least 
scene  in  the  drama  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  capitalism,  alter- 
nated with  the  combative  instinct  of  strong-willed  men  to 
assert  their  personalities  and  come  to  grips  with  fortune. 
It  is  perhaps  possible  to  find  average  consistency  in  the 
Marxian  attitude.  The  economic  revolution  of  course 
must  be  held  inevitable :  no  conscious  effort  would  materi- 
ally hinder  or  materially  advance  the  concentration  of  in- 
dustry in  huge  establishments,  the  centralization  of  wealth 
in  ever  lewer  hands,  the  sinking  of  the  workers  to  ever  lower 
depths  of  misery  and  degradation,  the  recurrence  of  crises 
in  ever  more  serious  forms.  This  did  ro'.  mean  that  the 
proletariat  were  to  play  a  passive  part,  waiting '"  until  some 
fine  day  the  roast  pigeons  of  the  social  revolution  would 
fly  into  their  mouths."  *  They  might  trust  in  dialectic,  but 


it 


'  "By  a  crowning  application  of  the  Hegelian  method,  Marx  united 
the  Idea  and  the  Fact.  ...  He  brought  the  Socialist  thought  into 
proletarian  life,  and  proletarian  life  into  Socialist  thought." — Jaur^s, 
Studies  in  Socialism,  p.  133. 

*  Kautsky,  Das  Erfurter  Programm,  p.  106. 


■J? 


lli 


H-^ 


222 


SOCLVLISM 


none  the  less  must  keep  their  powder  dry,  fighting  with 
fate,  not  against  it.  They  had  stern  work  to  do,  organizing 
and  disciplining  their  forces,  that  in  the  fullness  of  time 
they  might  strike  for  freedom,  strike  to  bring  the  form  of 
industrial  society  into  harmony  with  its  changed  content. 
Until  the  economic  evolution  had  run  its  course,  prole- 
tarian revolt  was  premature  and  doomed  to  failure;  when 
that  course  was  run,  revolt  was  necessary  and  predestined 
to  success.  The  lines  were  not  to  be  changed,  but  the 
actors  might  be  trained  better  or  worse.  The  creed  com- 
pelled passivity,  except  in  organizing  and  preparing,  until 
the  dawn  of  revolution  broke;  then  action  sharp,  deter- 
mined, ruthless,  gigantic. 

Assuming  the  time  ripe  for  aggressive  action,  what  form 
should  that  action  take?  Should  the  struggle  for  mastery 
be  made  on  the  field  of  battle,  on  the  floor  of  parliament, 
or  in  the  workshop.?  In  the  time  and  temper  of  the  found- 
ers of  modern  socialism  but  one  answer  was  possible.  The 
class  war  was  interpreted  literally.    "Force,"  declared 
Marx,  "is  the  midwife  of  every  old  society  pregnant  with 
the  new."  In  the  heroic  days  of  the  modem  socialist  move- 
ment the  leading  spirits  looked  to  a  trial  of  strength  on 
the  field  of  battle.   The  bourgeois  revolutions  formed  the 
model  for  the  proletarian.    Particularly  in  Paris  the  tra- 
dition of  the  glorious  days  of  '89  and  of  '93  still  lived. 
Babeuf's  fellow  conspirator,  Buonarroti,  handed  on  the 
torch  to  Blanqui  and  to  Marx.    Secret  societies  of  the  Car- 
bonari type  kept  up  a  feverish,  if  flickering,  subterranean 
activity,  preparing  sounding  manifestoes  and  drafting  the 
programme  for  the  day  after  the  Great  Revolution.  The 
Communist  League,  the  secret  society  for  which  Marx  and 
Engels  drafted  the  famous  "Com.  lunist  Manifesto,"  was 
the  successor  of  Weitling's  Federation  of  the  Just  and 
Schuster's  Federation  of  the  Banished.   From  France  the 
ramifications  spread  throughout  Europe,  and  particularly 
through  feudal  Germany.   In  England  sanguine  socialist 


THE  MODERN  SOCULIST  MOVEMENT       823 


observers  expected  to  see  the  proletarian  discontent  which 
had  manifested  itself  in  Luddite  riots,  Sheffield  explosions 
and  bitterly  contested  strikes,  and  had  culminated  in  the 
Chartist  agitation,  bUndly  felt  to  involve  the  "  knife  and 
fork  question,"  lead  to  fierce  and  bloody  civil  war.' 

Writing  late  in  1847,   Marx  was  of  the  opinion   that 
wherever  the  industrial  classes  as  a  whole  had  not  carried 
the  day  against  absolute  monarchy  and  feudal  squirearchy, 
J  the  proletarian  revolt  could  come  only  as  an  appendix  to 

the  final  bourgeois  upheaval.  He  advocated  a  continuance 
and  an  extension  of  the  tactics  of  1793  and  of  1830,  fighting 
side  by  side  with  the  middle  classes  till  victory  dawned, 
then  turning  upon  them  in  an  attempt  to  snatch  the  fruits 
of  victory.*  The  "  Manifesto  "  was  not  off  the  press  when 
the  first  of  the  series  of  revolts  Ijegan  which  were  to  shake 
nearly  every  capital  ia  Europe,  and  put  terror  in  the  hearts 
of  kings.'  At  once  the  members  of  the  Communist  League 


•  "  Prophecy  is  nowhere  so  easy  as  in  Enpland,  where  all  the  compon- 
ent parts  of  society  are  clearly  defined  and  sharply  separated.  .  .  .  The 
proletarians,  driven  to  despair,  wil'  seize  the  torch  which  Stephens  has 
reached  to  them;  the  vengeance  of  the  people  will  come  down  with  a  wrath 
of  which  the  rage  of  1793  pives  no  true  idea.  The  war  of  the  poor  against 
the  rich  will  be  the  bloodiest  ever  waged.  ...  It  is  t<x)  late  for  a  peace- 
ful solution.  The  classes  are  divided  more  and  more  sharply,  the  .spirit 
of  resistance  penetrates  the  workers,  the  bitterness  intensifies,  the  guerilla 
skirmishes  become  concentrated  in  more  important  battles,  and  soon  a 
slight  impulse  will  suffice  to  set  the  avalanche  in  motion.  Then,  indeed, 
will  the  war-cry  resound  through  the  land:  'War  to  the  palaces,  peace 
to  the  cottages.'  but  ii  it  will  be  too  late  for  the  rich  to  l)eware." 
—  EngeU,  Condition  of  the  Working-Class  in  England  in  18H,  pp.  296- 
298. 

'  Communvii  Manifesto,  p.  63.  CI.  Jaures,  op.  cit.,  p.  1.S6. 

»  Cf.  Letters  of  Queen  Victoria,  1837-1801.  King  Frederick  William  IV 
of  Prussia  to  Queen  Victoria,  Feb.  27,  1848:  "Most  Gracious  Queen 
and  Sister  .  .  .  God  has  permitted  events  which  decisively  threaten 
the  peace  of  Europe.  ...  If  the  revolutionary  party  carry  out  its  pro- 
gramme, 'the  sovereignty  of  the  people.'  my  minor  crown  will  be 
broken,  no  less  certainly  than  the  mighly  crowns  of  j-our  Majesty,  and 
a  fearful  scourge  will  belaid  upon  the  lations:  a  century  of  rebellion,  of 
la\^ lessuess,  of  godlessness.  ...  On  both  knees  I  adjure  you,  use  for  the 


.a 


ft  J 
i.t' 

Hi 


224 


SOCIALISM 


put  their  preaching;  into  practice,  joininf?  the  democratic 
forces  and  urging  them  to  more  radical  a<'tion;  Marx, 
calling  upon  the  people  of  the  Rhenish  provinces  to  re- 
volt, through  the  columns  of  the  Neue  IViciuischc  Zeitung, 
Born  leading  the  Dresden  uprising,  Engels  serving  as 
adjutant  in  Willich's  volunteers,  Liebknecht  a  l)onibardier 
in  Becker's  battery,  Lassalle  fomenting  resistance  at 
DUsseldorf,  took  their  manf-d  part  in  the  struggle.  But 
nowhere  in  Germany,  nor  in  Austria,  Hungary  nor  Italy, 
was  even  the  first  stage  to  victory  attained:  after  brief 
panic  the  forces  of  reaction  conquered,  and  the  <lefcated 
communists  who  had  called  on  the  proletarians  of  the  world 
to  unite  and  offered  themselves  as  leaders  in  the  reorganiza- 
tion and  control  of  industrial  Europe,  split  into  jealous 
and  warring  camps,  one  petty  faction  denouncing  and 
betraying  the  other  to  the  police. 

In  France  fortune  for  a  time  was  more  propitious. 
Louis  Philippe  and  the  regime  of  privilege  and  corruption 
for  ^'hich  he  stood  '.ere  overthrown  with  unexi)ected  ease. 
The  (-xi  reme  Left  took  a  leading  part  in  the  demonstrations 
which  overthrew  the  old  government  and  claimed  and  won 
recognition  in  the  policy  and  personnel  of  the  new.  The 
right  to  work  was  formally  proclaimed,  and  under  Louis 
Blanc  and  Albert,  the  workingman  member  of  the  pro- 
vincial administration,  a  system  of  national  workshops 
was  instituted.  The  demands  of  Cabet  and  Blanqui  and 
Raspail  for  more  thoroughgoing  communistic  measures 


welfare  of  Europe, '  Engellands  England.'  With  these  words  I  fall  at  your 
Majesty's  feet."  —  ii,  p.  177. 

Queen  V'ictoria  to  King  of  the  Belgians  July  11,  1848:  "When  one 
thinks  of  one's  children,  their  education,  their  future,  —  and  prays  for 
them,  — I  always  think  and  say  to  niy.self,  'Let  them  grow  up  fit  for 
whatever  station  they  may  be  placed  in,  high  cr  low.'  .  .  .  Altogether 
one's  disposition  is  so  changed  —  bon-s  and  trifles  which  one  would 
have  complained  of  bitterly  a  few  months  ago,  one  looks  upon  as  good 
things  and  quite  a  blessing  —  provided  one  can  keep  one's  position  in 
quiet."  — ii,  p.  217. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT        US 


broupht  reaction,  the  exclusion  of  the  soc-ialists  from  the 
government,  counter-conspiracy,  the  closing-down  of  the 
workshops,  bloody  fighting  which  left  thousands  dead  in 
street  and  barricade,  and  finally,  panic  and  reaction  which 
swung  the  pendulum  past  republicanism  to  the  pinch-beck 
imperialism  of  the  third  Napoleon.' 

The  failure  of  force  did  not  at  once  disillusion  the  social- 
ist 'i-aders.  At  most  in  Marx's  eyes  it  proved  that  the 
economic  conditions  were  not  yet  r\\ie  for  the  assumption 
of  jMJwer  by  the  proletariat,  the  bourgeoisie  not  yet  played 
out.  It  did  not  prove  that  force  would  fail  when  the  eco- 
nomic hour  had  struck.  Yet  slowly  the  faith  in  appeal  to 
amis  grew  weak.  The  advancing  prosperity  of  Europe,  in 
which  the  working  classes  shared,  lessened  the  thirst  for 
barricade  heroics.  The  advance  of  military  science  gave 
the  professional  soldier  ever  greater  advantage  over  the 

'  The  failure  of  the  National  Workshops  is  sometimes  attributed  to 
the  desire  of  some  of  Blanc's  colleaKues  to  discredit  his  proposals  (see, 
however,  Strachey,  Problem.i  and  Perils  of  Sorialium,  p.  \i3).  This  plea 
cannot  be  advanced  to  excuse  the  failun'  of  Blanc's  orfjanization  of  the 
tailoring  trade  at  the  Hdtcl  Clichy.  Walter  BaRchot's  contemporary 
account  is  of  interest:  "This  exj)eriment  b<'gan  with  peculiar  advantages. 
The  government  made  the  building  suitable  for  the  purpose,  without  rent 
or  charge,  furnished  the  capital,  without  interest,  and  gave  an  order  for 
twenty-five  thousand  suits  for  the  National  Guard.  .  .  .  Eleven  francs 
per  (lay  was  the  contract  price  [ordinarily  charged  by  the  master  tailors 
of  Paris],  including  the  profit  of  the  muster  tailor,  the  remuneration  for 
his  workshops  and  tools,  and  for  the  interest  of  his  capi.al.  The  govern- 
ment agreed  to  give  the  organized  tailors  at  the  Hotel  Clichy  the  same 
price  .  .  .  and  to  advance  every  day  two  francs  for  each  man  as  sub- 
sistence money;  when  the  contract  was  completed  the  balance  should  be 
paid,  and  equally  divided  among  the  men.  .  .  .  The  accounts  were 
squared.  Eleven  francs  per  dress,  for  so  many  dresses,  came  to  so  much. 
The  subsistence  money,  at  two  francs  a  day,  had  to  be  deducted.  The 
balance  was  to  be  divided  as  profit.  Alas,  it  was  a  balance  of  loss,  not  of 
gain.  Subsistence  money  had  been  paid  equal  to  rather  more,  when  it 
came  to  be  calculated,  than  sixteen  francs  for  each  dress,  in  place  of 
eleven,  at  which  the  master  tailor  would  have  made  a  profit,  paid  his 
rent,  the  interest  of  his  capital,  and  good  wages  to  his  men,  in  place  of  a 
daily  pittance  for  bare  subsistence.  .  .  .  Louis  Blanc  is  not  a  match  for 
the  master  tailors  of  Paris."  --  The  EronomiH,  May  20. 1848,  p,  562. 


1:?; 


m   if 


p.  i 

i-i 


p. 


I- 


4$ 


tio 


SOCULISM 


amateur  revolutionist.  The  experiences  of  the  Commune 
revealed  the  strength  and  the  solid  conservuti^  ism  of  the 
rural  population  whom  the  soeialists  had  left  out  of  their 
reckoning.  The  f?radual  extension  of  the  franchise  opened 
up  easier  paths  to  victory.  The  grow-th  of  the  concept 
of  evolution  put  violent  and  cataclysmic  changes  out  of 
court  —  just  as  the  current  mutation  theories,  with  their 
recognition  of  the  sudden  "explosion"  of  new  species, 
have  afforded  color  for  the  revival  of  the  catastrophic 
social  doctrine.  The  traditions  of  1880  and  1848  died  with 
the  men  who  had  taken  active  part.  The  old  watchwords 
long  survived  in  the  outbursts  of  the  old  guard,  Liebknecht 
declaring  in  1874  that  socialism  is  simply  a  question  of 
force,  which  cannot  be  solved  in  parliament,  but  in  the 
street  and  on  the  field  of  battle  and  there  alone, '  Marx  in 
the  following  year  still  looking  forward,  in  true  Blanqui 
spirit,  to  the  revolutionary  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat, 
and  in  the  year  of  Marx's  death  the  Congress  of  ZUrich 
reiterating  that  force  alone  could  bring  about  the  Revo- 
lution. But  more  and  more,  except  in  countries  like  Russia 
where  autocracy's  reliance  '^n  force  prompted  the  use  of 
force  in  return,  the  tactics  of  open  revolution  ceased  to 
have  practical  weight,  and  survived  chiefly  in  rhetorical 
antitheses  between  ballot  and  bullet  designed  to  send  chills 
up  bourgeois  spines.  Engels  himself  was  compelled  to  re- 
cognize the  new  situation,  and  in  his  political  testament  in 
1895  he  completely  and  almost  fiercely  renounced  the  doc- 
trine he  once  had  preached  and  practiced.* 

The  emphasis  shifts  to  economic  and  political  action. 
The  next  great  landmark  in  the  development  of  the  social- 
ist  movement  was  the  founding  of  the  International  Work- 
ingmen's  Association.  Established  in  London  in  1864. 
largely  on  French  initiative,  it  was  nominally  a  union  of 

I  I'eber  die  poUlisrhe  Stellung  der  Sozialdemokratie.  imbesondere  no: 
Bezug  aiif  den  Reichntag. 

*  Preface  to  Marx's  Claaa  War  in  France  1895. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       227 


the  class-consrious  workinptnen  of  Europ  and  America, 
or>?anize(l  on  trade-union  lines.  As  a  matter  of  fact  its 
lieterogeneous  ranks  incliuied  hard-lieade<l  Enfjiish  trade 
unionists,  chiefly  intcn  sled  in  |)uttin>j  an  end  to  the  com- 
petition of  foreign  underpaid  hd)or  and  the  intervention 
c  foreign  blacklegs  in  strikes,  Russian  nihilists,  Polish  re- 
volutionists and  Italian  nationalists,  French  Proudhonists 
looking  to  the  mutualization  of  credit,  BlaiHpiist  terrorists, 
and  German  Social-Dein<MTats.  The  conflict  of  views 
within  its  ranks  prevented  the  devel()j)ment  of  any  clear- 
cut  and  con.sistent  |)oli<y.  The  organization  of  the  pro- 
letariat in  political  parties  was  a  cardinal  principle  of  the 
International,  hut  little  a<-tual  progress  was  made  in  this 
direction.'  The  first  task  was  to  rouse  the  workingmen 
to  a  sense  of  their  wrongs,  and  the  disccmtent  thus  stirred 
was  turned  rather  into  economic  than  jwlitical  channels, 
ranging  from  coopt^rative  production  and  credit  pro[K)saIs 
to  the  advocacy  of  the  general  strike.  The  a<'tive  work  of 
the  International  consisted  chiefly  in  the  organization  uiid 
support  of  a  few  strikes,  the  establishment  of  some  short- 
lived press-organs,  and  the  circulation  of  revolutionary 
namphlets.  Without  financial  resources,  torn  asunder  by 
doctrinal  and  racial  and  personal  differences,  it  was  in 
«>ality  a  feeble  foit- e,  but  t)y  its  energy  in  holding  congresses 
and  passing  resolutions  it  profoundly  impressed  Europe 
with  a  sense  of  impending  revolution.  In  the  congresses 
of  Of  :i«>va,  Lausanne,  Brussels,  and  Basle  tlie  more  radical 
eJefnents  gradiMliy  gained  the  upper  hand  and  from  reso- 
iii£r;»»n>  in  fiV()r  of  shorter  hours,  reform  in  taxation,  iind 
tier  <)Trani=3a.t!<m  of  credit  banks  and  cotiperative  societies, 
■jjb'  £tiern  itional  advanced  to  demands  for  the  nationaliza- 

■"Tr  •  -in  that  the  International  liiul  proolaimcil  the  nocossity  of 
noiilsrai.  s4rai-;!vs.  but  this  was  only  in  tlieory.  In  practice,  in  organiza- 
'\vp.:.  -"tmzi.  •>truK(rh's  were  somethinc  new,  and  orprinization  as  a 
imiimrc.  Tatr—-,  in  some  conntries  where  the  working  classes  had  often 
bewB  asmeiti.  -^as  ■•iewcd  with  mistrust."  —  G.  Jaeckh,  The  International, 

i  t.-.^    it  itsiiuuiiur,  p.   1  i J. 


ill 


iU    I 


S28 


SOCIALISM 


3Jt  ta( 


tion,  first  of  mines  and  railways  and  later  of  all  the  land. 
The  sanction  given  by  the  General  Cou  icil  to  the  Paris 
Commune,  for  whir'i,  however,  it  had  little  direct  respons- 
ibility, cost  the  allegiance  of  the  wavering  English  unions, 
and  the  crushing  of  the  rising  extinguished  for  a  time  the 
radical  French  labor  movement.   Finally,  personal  dissen- 
sions came  to  a  head  and  wrecked  what  was  left  of  the 
International.  Marx,  who  had  conquered  the  Mazzini  and 
Proudhon  elements,  could  not  quell  the  revolt  of  the 
Russian  extremist,  Bakunin,  except  by  a  virtual  dissolu- 
tion of  the  organization.  The  difference  between  the  two 
men  was  not,  as  some  recent  socialist  writers  claim,  eager 
with  growing  respectability  to  disavow  their  poor  lelations, 
the  difference  between  a  collectivist  advocating  political 
action  and  conquest  of  state  powers  and  an  anarchist 
advocating  propaganda  by  dynamite.   The  doctrinal  dif- 
ferences were  not  at  this  time  so  serious  as  the  racial  and 
temperamental  diflFerences,  and  the  disputes  as  to  the 
internal  organization  of  the  Association.   The  genius  for 
laying  bare  the  shady  side  of  men  and  systems  and  for  at- 
tributing evil  motives  on  the  slightest  colorable  grounds, 
which  made  Marx  so  effective  a  force  as  critic  and  agitator, 
unfitted  him  for  constructive  effort  or  for  permanent 
cooperation  with  his  fellows.    With  the  passing  of  the 
International  his  direct  participation  in  the  organization 
of  the  socialist  forces  ceased,  though  until  his  death  he 
continued  by  personal  intercourse  and  voluminous  cor- 
respondence to  advise  and  inspire  the  leaders  of  the 
European  movement. 

The  fiasco  of  the  International  had  shown  the  futility, 
at  that  early  stage,  of  a  Europe-wide  organization,  doomed 
by  the  heterogeneity  of  the  elements  comprised  and  the 
diversity  of  conditions  faced,  to  sterile  declamation  and 
feeble  and  desultory  action.  The  International  had  stimu- 
lated discontent,  had  called  forth  leaders,  and  had  pro- 
vided an  arena  for  the  clash  of  conflicting  theories,  from 


mm-: 


hr±- '^  ^  :^ 'Ji.  ■ 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       229 


which  Marxism  had  emerged  as  the  most  thoroughgoing 
and  scientific  of  the  creeds  contending  for  proletarian  favor. 
The  time  had  come  for  movements  primarily  national, 
working  in  fields  not  too  great  for  coherent  organization 
and  varying  in  typje  with  the  varying  conditions  faced. 
It  is  not  possible  within  the  limits  here  set  to  follow  in 
detail  the  development  of  the  socialist  movement  in  Europe 
and  America.  All  that  can  be  done  is  to  set  forth  briefly 
the  outstanding  features  and  tendencies  of  socialism  in  the 
countries  where  the  movement  has  attained  most  import- 
ance and  significance. 


v.t 


ill 

i  'I 

1 


Easily  first  among  these  countries  is  Germany.  German 
socialism  is  distinguished  by  its  primacy  in  the  field,  by 
its  predominatingly  political  character,  by  the  success 
achieved  in  agitation,  and  by  the  clear-cut,  scientific 
principles  on  which  it  has  been  based.  It  is  equally  signi- 
ficant in  the  record  it  presents  of  gradual  but  far-reaching 
evolution  in  tactics  and  aims. 

The  German  working-class  movement  from  the  outset 
was  ix>litical.  The  programme  of  force  found  few  adher- 
ents. The  solid  battalions  of  the  Prussian  and  Austrian 
autocracies  made  an  appeal  to  arms  futile  unless  in  mass; 
and  the  German  people,  with  little  of  the  genius  for 
revolution  of  their  Latin  neighbors,  were  not  easily  to  be 
roused  to  open  rupture  with  the  powers  ordained.  Eco- 
nomic organization  lagged.  The  trade  unions,  hampered 
by  a  more  backward  industrial  development,  by  gild  sur- 
vivals and  repressive  laws,  were  half  a  century  behind  the 
British  movement.  Cooperation  was  in  its  infancy  in 
the  sixties.  Producers'  cooperation  was  enthusiastically 
advocated  by  the  Lassalle  wing  of  socialists,  but  only  on 
the  basis  of  state  aid  to  be  forced  by  political  success. 
Consumers'  cooperation  was  fated  to  score  more  substantial 
success,  but  it  was  discounted  by  its  Liberal  sponsorship 
and  by  the  prevalent  belief  in  what  Lassalle  termed  the 


!l    \ 


Ai.  H 


fey 


•■«> 


^1  f 

'i :  -■      J 

m  i 


■r^ 


■^ 


ff< 


m  'i 


2S0 


SOCIALISM 


iron  law  of  wages,  that  Malthusian-Ricardian  bogey  which 
warned  off  all  projects  to  decrease  the  cost  of  living.  The 
personal  factor  made  for  political  action,  through  the 
influence  of  Ferdinand  Lassallc,  that  other  brilliant  Jew 
who  shares  with  Marx  the  honor  of  founding  the  German 
movement.  He  was  passionately  convinced,  in  opposition 
to  the  laissez-faire  principles  of  his  Liberal  antagonists  and 
the  anarchistic  leanings  of  many  of  his  socialist  friends, 
that  the  state  was  to  play  a  great  creative  rdle  in  the 
future,  transforming  capitalism  and  freeing  the  workers 
from  their  industrial  and  political  bondage.  It  was,  then, 
the  primary  duty  of  the  proletariat  to  gain  control  of  this 
mighty  engine,  and  to  use  it  to  secure  their  economic  dom- 
inance. Finally,  the  sweeping  grant  of  universal  suffrage, 
in  the  North  German  Confederation  in  1867  and  in  the 
German  Empire  four  years  later,  opened  at  a  stroke  the 
path  to  power.  It  had  come,  not  because  of  democratic  and 
socialist  pressure,  but  from  Bismarck's  desire  to  play  off 
working  class  against  middle  class,  and  from  his  more 
statesmanlike  ambition  to  stimulate  a  common  imperial 
sentiment  among  the  whole  people,  submerging  local 
patriotism  and  prejudice.  Whatever  the  motive,  it  had 
come,  and  its  coming  made  it  certain  that  the  struggle  df 
the  working  class  for  bettered  conditions  would  be  made 
in  the  political  field,  where  their  strength  was  relatively 
greatest. 

The  success  of  the  German  movement  has  been  un- 
paralleled in  so  far  as  numbers,  disciplined  unity,  and 
thorough  organization  constitute  success.  The  primary 
condition  of  success  lay  in  the  existence  of  grievances 
clamoring  for  redress.  In  length  and  arduousness  of  toil 
and  in  meagreness  of  reward  the  German  workman  was 
worse  off  than  his  English  cousin,  even  though  the  special 
evils  of  a  transition  to  a  capitalist  economy  were  not  per- 
mitted, in  the  warning  light  of  exf>erience,  to  develop  to 
such  a  degree.   In  the  political  field,  with  Germany  still 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       «31 

half  feudal,  still,  in  a  socialist  phrase,  half  Asiatic,  the 
comparisoa  was  even  more  unfavorable.  When,  however, 
the  social  unrest  of  the  century  began  to  stir  the  German 
workingman,  and  he  turned  to  politics  for  help,  he  found 
little  promise  of  democratic  fellowship  in  the  parties  that 
held,  or  were  to  hold,  the  6eld.  Conservative  and  Agrarian 
were  hopelessly  antagonistic  to  an  urban   proletariat  — 
and  in  a  country  where  Tory  Democracy  was  the  prerog- 
ative of  the  Crown.  The  Centre  or  Catholic  party,  with 
characteristic  opportunism,  bid  for  the  workingman's  vote, 
not  without  some  success  but  its  confessional  restrictions 
and  peasant  majority  barred  it  from  ever  becoming  the 
party  of  the  proletariat.  The  Liberal  party,  representing 
the  manufacturing  and  commercial  classes,  bettered  its 
English  model  in  its  hopelessly  rigid  Manchesterism;  the 
unfortunate  group  system  of  Continental  politics,  isolating 
and  accentuating  every  special  interest,  has  prevented  the 
gradual  compromise  and  permeation  of  the  bi-pa.  y  system 
which  has  developed  the  British  Liberals  from  Whiggery 
to  Democracy.  The  Radicals,  the  most  formidable  rivals 
of  the  Socialists,  were  handicapped  by  internal  dissensions. 
The  evangelical   Christian   Socialists,    under  Todt  and 
Stocker,  were  to  make  a  strong  appeal,  but  with  little 
prospect  of  success,  once  it  became  clear  that  their  social- 
ism was  paternaUsm  and  their  Christianity  largely  anti- 
Semitism.  .  ^ 
The  field  was  open  for  the  Social  Democratic  party.  It 
was  well  equipped  for  the  campaign.  It  offered  a  glittering 
promise  of  a  New  Jerusalem  where  the  least  should  be 
the  greatest.    It  was  fortunate  in  leaders  of  outstanding 
ability  and  devotion;  Marx,  giving  not  always  heeded 
counsel  from  his  London  retreat;  Lassalle,  whose  task  of 
organizing  the  workingmen  in  his  Universal  Workingmen's 
Association  was  but  begun  when  the  bullet  of  Count  von 
Racowitza  ended  at  once  his  political  agitation  and  his 
matrimonial  intrigues,  but  not  his  fascination  for  the 


"i 


I,'- 


til 


iy 


.ti 


it ; 


n 


^:iiK  'S^-m 


ts» 


SOCIALISM 


populace;  Liebknecht  and  his  convert  Bebel,  masters  of 
persuasion  and  of  strategy,  bringing  with  them  to  socialism 
cohorts  of  South  German  workingmen  and  welding  them 
into  a  single  party  along  with  the  LassalHan  faction; 
Singer  the  organizer;  Kautsky  the  keeper  of  the  faith  — 
these  and  scores  of  younger  men  gave  their  lives  to  the 
cause.  The  party  was  unequaled  in  its  thoroughgoing 
organization,  in  its  strict  yet  flexible  discipline,  in  its 
activity  in  propaganda,  in  its  attempt  through  educa- 
tional, dramatic,  and  social  activities  to  provide  within 
its  own  ranks  scope  for  well-rounded  development.  Fin- 
ally, the  ill-advised  attempt  of  Bismarck  to  stamp  out  dis- 
affection by  the  anti-socialist  laws,  which  from  1878  to 
1890  made  all  socialist  agitation  whether  in  press  or  on 
platform  illegal  and  thereby  drove  it  underground,  only 
increased  the  determination  and  the  faith  of  the  perse- 
cuted, and  proved  once  more  that  the  blood  of  the  mar- 
tyrs is  the  seed  of  the  church. 

The  German  Social  Democratic  party  is  significant,  not 
only  for  its  success,  but,  in  its  earlier  years  at  least,  for  its 
revolutionary  orthodoxy.  This  uncompromising  attitude 
was  the  result  both  of  its  political  environment  and  of  the 
creed  it  had  adopted.  The  rigid  class  divisions  of  Germany 
and  especially  of  Prussia,  and  the  comparatively  rigid 
party  lines  which  in  large  measure  corresfjonded,  made  fu- 
sion with  other  forces  diflScult;  the  antagonism  created  by 
the  anti-socialist  laws  long  made  it  impossible.  The  system 
of  personal  government  exerted  important  influence;  the 
lack  of  cabinet  responsibility  increased  the  tendency  of  a 
radical  party  in  Reichstag  or  Landtag  to  take  the  critical, 
negative  attitude  of  a  permanent  and  professional  oppo- 
sition, and  prevented  the  sobering  influence  which  would 
have  come  with  even  partial  participation  in  power. 

Nor  would  the  creed  to  which  the  party  was  wedded 
permit  the  heresy  of  compromise.  The  oflScial  confession 
of  faith  of  the  German  Social  Democrats  is  contained  in 


7  r 


^^; 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT        £38 

the  Erfurt  Programme,  adopted  in  1891.  It  consists  of  two 
parts,  a  general  summary  of  the  tendencies  of  capitaUst 
development  and  of  the  socialist  remedy,  and  a  detailed 
statement  of  immediate  demands.   The  first  part  of  the 
programme  is  a  thoroughgoing  exposition  of  the  purest 
Marxism:  the  development  of  capitalist  economy  leading 
inevitably  to  the  division  of  society  into  capitalist  mono- 
polists and  propertyless  proletarians,  the  consequent  ever 
more  bitter  class  struggle,  the  growing  industrial  reserve 
army,  the  increasing  misery  and  degradation  of  the  work- 
ers, the  ever  more  devastating  crises,  the  solution  in 
collective  ownership,  wrought  out  by  the  working  class 
unaided,  fighting  on  the  political  field.    Nothing  could 
avert    the    onward    march    of    capitalist    development, 
nothirt»  avert  the  crash  of  revolution,  the  victory  of  the 
proletariat,  and  the  establishment  of  the  collective  com- 
monwealth.   Such  a  creed,  we  have  seen,  might  not  in- 
volve fatalistic  apathy  in  its  adherents,  for  their  action, 
also,  was  fated.    But  it  turned  activity  into  the  channel 
of  preparation,  of  drilling  troops  for  the  conflict,  "shaping 
this  battle  of  the  working  class  into  a  conscious  and  united 
effort  and  showing  it  its  naturally  necessary  end,"'  rather 
than  into  the  channel  of  resistance  to  the  degrading  tend- 
encies of  economic  evolution,  the  channel  of  attempts  to 
remedy  ills,  to  soften  antagonisms  and  avert  collision.    It 
committed  the  socialist  to  the  policy  of  governmental 
laissez-faire. 

The  logical  deduction  from  this  programme  was  that 
the  political  tactics  of  the  party  must  be  mainly  negative. 
The  aim  was  not  to  wield  a  share  of  power  in  the  existing 
state,  but  to  seize  power  to  abolish  the  existing  state.  The 
more  extreme  opinion  questioned  the  wisdom  even  of 
entering  Parliament.  Liebknecht  feared  Bismarck  beariTig 
gifts,  and  scorned  universal  suffrage  within  a  class  state, 
police  and  army  ridden,  with  the  reality  of  power  still 
•  E'furt  Programme,  in  Ensor,  Modem  Socialiam,  p.  S19. 


'f1    -I 


i|  i 


''M 


I 


.'IS 


m^  ■  m 


2S4 


SOCIALISM 


?'■ 


■I  -  t 


gripped  by  an  active  monarch  and  his  chancellor  and  by  a 
reactionary  upper  house,  as  an  utter  sham,  the  plaything 
of  absolutism,  the  basis  of  a  new  Csesarism,  the  fig-leaf  of 
tyranny.'  I  iebknecht's  attack  on  parliamentary  action 
rose  to  p  -i,  ■'-  him  twenty  years  later,  when  the  Berlin 
"opposition"  or  "Jeunes,"  a  section  of  the  party  with 
anti-parliamentary  leanings,  tending  later  to  anarchism, 
turned  his  own  bitterest  phrases  against  the  growing 
legality  of  the  party.  These  opinions,  however,  have  at 
no  time  received   the  support  of  the  majority  of  the 

party. 

More  unanimous  was  the  refusal  to  participate  in  the 
elections  in  those  of  the  individual  states  of  the  empire 
which  retained  high  property  qualifications  or  the  three- 
class  suffrage.  Given  the  division  of  the  electors  into  three 
classes,  equal,  not  in  numbers  but  in  the  total  of  the  direct 
taxes  paid,  with  a  handful  of  the  rich  in  the  first  class,  a 
larger  number  of  the  well-to-do  in  the  second  class,  and 
the  great  majority  of  the  electors  in  the  third  class,  given 
open  voting  and  the  indirect  system  of  election,  whereby 
each  of  these  classes  chooses  an  equal  number  of  secondary 
electors  to  make  the  actual  choice,  it  is  clear  that  a  party 
appealing  primarily  to  the  working  class  would  be  power- 
less without  alliance.  Alliance  was  anathema,  and  so  for 
years  the  socialists  did  not  participate  in  the  elections  of 
Prussia  and  other  states.  It  was  not  till  the  Congress  of 
1893  that  the  question  of  participation  was  even  broached, 
only  to  be  met  with  a  resolute  pronouncement  for  the 
orthodox  tactics;  success  by  independent  efforts  was 
impossible,  it  was  declared,  and  success  by  compact  with 
bourgeois  parties  would  be  dear  bought  by  the  demoraliza- 
tion and  strife  that  would  follow.  But  the  heresy  would 
not  down.  In  1897  a  compromise  was  put  through  re- 
quiring participation  but  forbidding  the  compacts  with 

«  Cf.  Veberdie  poUtische  Stellung  der  Sozialdemokratie.  irubesondere  mtJ 
Bezug  auj  den  Heiclulag,  ISCa. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT        235 

other  parties  which  alone  would  make  participation  effect- 
ive. Next  year  participatica  was  left  to  the  option  of  the 
local  districts;  the  following  congress,  with  much  face- 
saving  reaffirming  of  the  class  struggle  and  declarations 
that  it  cherished  no  illusions  as  to  the  character  of  the 
bourgeois  parties,  nevertheless  resolved  not  to  refuse  in 
specific  cases  to  cooperate  with  the  more  progressive 
parties  in  order  to  ward  off  reactionary  proposals,  or  to 
better  the  social  conditions  of  the  working  classes,  or  to  in- 
crease the  party  strength;  and  finally,  in  1900,  a  resolution 
forbidding  alliances  was  rejected  and  participation  made 
compulsory.  1  The  political  "cow-trading," as  Singer  scorn- 
fully called  it,  thus  sanctioned,  has  gone  on  apace,  as  the 
party  has  grown  more  absorbed  in  the  political  game; 
bargains  are  made  for  support  at  the  polls  wherever  sup- 
port is  for  exchange,  here  from  the  Radical,  there  from 
the  Liberal,  even  from  the  Clerical:  non  olet. 

In  parliament,  the  socialist  representative  must  not 
be  of  it:  he  must  be  a  critic  of  the  comedy,  not  an  actor 
in  it.  Nothing  should  be  done  to  imply  acquiescence  in  the 
established  order.  The  logical  demand  of  Liebknecht,  in 
his  radical  days,  that  the  socialist  members  should  enter 
the  Reichstag  only  to  read  a  revolutionary  protest  and 
then  withdraw,  proved  too  extreme  a  deduction  for  accept- 
ance. The  prevailing  theory  in  the  early  years  was  that 
the  socialist  members  should  "speak  through  the  win- 
dows" to  the  masses  without.  The  resolutions  adopted  by 
the  Stuttgart  Congress  in  1870,  as  a  compromise  between 
the  conflicting  views  of  Liebknecht  and  Bebel,  sanctioned 
parliamentary  activity  for  purposes  of  agitation,  admitted 
tentatively  that  action  might  be  taken  to  advance  the 
interests  of  the  working  classes,  but  held  that  on  the  whole 
a  negative,  critical  attitude  was  to  be  maintained,  directed 

»  ProtoMl  Uber  die  Verhandlungen  des  Partdtagea  des  loziMemokrai' 
iichm  Partei  Deulschlandi,  Maim,  1900.  where  on  p.  «13  previous  posi- 
tions are  conveniently  summarized. 


I 


4r 


't.:.,  ■J''r^ri 


tS8 


SOCIALISM 


toward  unmasking  the  shams  of  bourgeois  parliamentary 
government.  Typical  of  the  gradual  advance  toward  con- 
structive work  are  the  declarations  of  the  Coburg  Congress 
in  1874,  that  participation  should  be  essentially  for  propa- 
ganda, and  the  St.  Gall  resolution  in  1887,  that  agitation 
should  receive  the  emphasis.  The  growing,  if  negative, 
recognition  afiPorded  to  positive  proposals  scarcely  kept 
pace  with  the  action  of  the  socialist  deputies,  and  their 
parliamentary  activities  were  made  the  subject  of  full- 
dress  debates  at  Halle  and  Erfurt,  in  1890  and  1891.  In 
the  Halle  debate,  where  the  chief  opposition  came  from 
the  rev  (lutionary  Berlin  wing,  the  necessity  for  positive 
activity  was  declared  in  a  resolution,  adopted  unanimously, 
calling  on  the  Reichstag  members  to  press  the  socialist 
demands  on  the  opposing  parties,  but  at  the  same  time  to 
strive  for  reforms  possible  within  the  framework  of  the 
existing  society,  without,  however,  cherishing  any  illusions 
as  to  the  importance  of  such  activity.  In  the  following 
year,  when  the  party  leaders  had  to  steer  a  middle  course, 
"avoiding  on  the  one  hand  the  bog  of  opportunism  and 
on  the  other  the  follies  of  anarchism," '  more  verbal  sanc- 
tion is  given  the  negative  view.*  Ever  since  that  congress, 
however,  positive  participation  in  parliamentary  labors 
has  become  more  and  more  the  accepted  practice,  even 


»  Liebknecht.  Protokoll,  Erfurt,  p.  210. 

*  Cf.  the  reversed  r6Ies  of  Bebel  and  Liebknecht.  Bebel,  tWd.,  p.  174: 
"The  chief  aim  in  our  parliamentary  activity  is  to  enlighten  the  masses 
concerning  our  opponents,  and  not  the  consideration  whether  any  demand 
will  be  attained  or  not.  It  is  from  this  standpoint  that  we  have  always 
made  our  proposals.  .  .  .  We  have  steadily  taken  the  stand  that  the 
question  is  not  whether  this  or  that  will  be  granted;  for  us  the  main  thing 
is  that  we  make  demands  no  other  party  can  make."  Liebknecht,  ifcwf., 
p.  206:  "We  have  practical  work  to  do  in  the  Reichstag.  .  .  .  How  have 
we  attained  our  power  in  Germany.'  Simply  because  from  the  begirning, 
instead  of  saying  '  we  live  in  cuckooland  and  care  nothing  about  practical 
things,'  ever>'where  we  made  our  way  into  the  municipalities,  the  Land- 
tags and  the  Reichstag,  on  practice  bent,  and  used  every  weapon  that  we 
had,  for  the  weal  of  the  working  classes." 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT        237 


though  views  have  diflfered  as  to  the  pcnnissibility  of 
specific  measures.  Socialists  take,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
a  useful  part  in  the  work  of  committees,  frequently  as 
reporter  or  chairman,  they  accept  the  honor  of  the  vice- 
presidency  of  the  Landtag,  they  make  the  court  visit  this 
station  in  life  demands,  —  not  without  protest  from  the 
outraged  radicals,  —  and,  it  is  alleged,  have  even  kissed 
the  Frau  Minister's  hand.* 

One  problem  of  parliamentary  tactics  remains  imsettled, 
and  has  given  rise  of  late  years  to  bitter  and  prolonged 
debate.  It  has  been  considered  as  of  sacramental  import- 
ance, a  symbol  of  the  rejection  of  the  class  state,  to  vote 
against  the  budget,  even  though  including  many  grants 
of  which  the  socialists  approve.  In  the  Reichstag,  where 
the  expenditure  voted  is  mainly  for  military  purposes, 
there  has  been  no  hesitation.  In  several  of  the  Landtags, 
however,  especially  in  the  South,  where  class  antagonisms 
are  less  sharp  than  in  the  North,  and  where  more  liberal 
suffrage  laws  permit  greater  socialist  influence,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  party  have  on  several  occasions  voted  for  budg- 
ets containing  grants  which  they  had  urged  or  represent- 
ing a  lesser  evil  than  alternative  proposals.  These  lapses 
frc;m  grace  have  been  debated  at  length  in  three  party 
congresses,  at  Frankfort  in  1891,  in  LUbeck  in  1901,  and 
at  NUmberg  in  1908:  in  the  latter  year  as  formerly  the 
action  was  condemned  by  a  majority  vote,  but  it  is  signi- 
ficant of  the  growing  discontent,  especially  in  the  South, 
with  the  oflScial  irreconcilability,  that  throughout  the  dis- 
cussion the  policy  of  opportunism  was  defended  with  a 
frankness  and  vigor  never  before  equaled,  and  that  at  the 
close  of  the  debate  sixty-six  delegates  from  Bavaria,  Baden, 
WUrtemburg,  and  Hesse  formally  declared  their  intention 
of  being  guided  in  the  matter  by  their  own  state  organiza- 
tions rather  than  by  the  national  congress.*  The  halt  at 

»  ProtokoU,  NUmberg,  1908.  p.  2M. 
«  Jbid.,  p.  4«6. 


t  I 


I'-'  I 


>t. 


k 


ih-\ 


mm 


'^m^is^^smm;^. 


238 


SOCIALISM 


this  lowest  stage  on  the  slippery  slope  of  parliamentary 
compromise  will  not  be  final.' 

The  evolution  of  the  party  from  the  barren  negation  of 
millennial  hopes  to  the  positive  striving  to  meet  present 
needs  is  even  more  unmistakable  when  we  turn  from  the 
forms  to  the  ends  of  political  action.  What  constructive 
tasks  could  a  Marxian  party  advocate  in  the  existing  state? 
The  authoritative  answer  is  given  in  the  second  part  of 
the  Erfurt  Programme  containing  the  immediate  demands 
of  the  party.  Now  the  significant  feature  of  this  second 
part  is  that  in  spite  of  its  preamble,  "Setting  out  from 
these  principles,  the  Social  Democratic  party  of  Germany 
demands  immediately,  etc.,"  it  is  not  only  not  a  deduction 
from  the  preceding  principles  but  in  flat  contradiction  to 
them.  It  contains  a  series  of  proposals,  some  of  them  social- 
istic in  tendency,  the  majority  merely  the  commonplaces 
of  radicalism,  proposals  wise  or  unwise  it  may  be,  but  the 
inevitable  effect  of  which  if  successful  would  be  to  arrest 
the  tendencies  making  for  proletarian  degradation  and 
industrial  chaos,  and  postpone  the  Social  Revolution  to  the 
Greek  Kalends.* 

Take,  for  example,  the  central  issue  of  the  betterment 
here  and  now  of  the  lot  of  the  working  classes,  whether 

•  After  refraining  from  voting  the  budget  for  two  years,  the  Baden 
socialists  supported  the  government  in  this  crucial  test  in  1910.  Their 
action  was  made  the  main  subject  of  the  Congress  of  Magdeburg;  the 
strength  of  the  reformist  forces  led  at  6rst  to  compromise,  but  the  frank 
declaration  of  the  Baden  leaders  that  they  would  give  no  pledges  for  the 
future  led  the  radical  majority  to  reopen  the  question  and  to  pass  a  reso- 
lution excluding  from  the  party  all  who  should  vote  for  the  budget  in  the 
future;  the  offenders  of  the  present  were  left  unscathed. 

'  "After  the  Erfurter  programme  has  sketched  the  inevitable  develop- 
ment towards  a  future  catastrophe,  after  the  official  party  catechism  has 
declared  that  a  real  radical  betterment,  not  merely  a  surface  improve- 
ment, is  to  be  attained  only  through  an  out-and-oat  overthrow  of  the 
existing  property  and  industrial  relations,  after  all  this  the  comprehensive 
second  part  of  the  programme  does  nothing  else  than  block  the  desirable 
development  by  the  much-scorned  quackery  of  liberal  and  democratic 
social  refonus."  —  Bruuhubcr,  Da»  heulige  Suzialdemokratie,  p.  156. 


r 


."^^'^"^fi*.,:/  'M^l**^';"  .■::i'U/'i(V 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       SS» 


i 


by  trade-union  action,  cooperative  self-help,  or  by  legis- 
lation such  as  is  proi>osed  in  the  second  part  of  the  Erfurt 
ProKramme,  —  abolition  of  the  truck  system,  prohibition 
of  child  lal)or,  the  attainment  of  the  eight-hour  day,  the 
extension  of  state  insurance.  To  the  lieliever  in  the  iron 
law  of  wages  of  Lassalle  or  in  Marx's  vision  of  the  cap- 
italist system  inevitably  and  remorselessly  grinding  out 
surplus  value  and  flinging  ever  more  of  the  hapless  work- 
ers into  the  industrial  reserve  army,  no  reform  which  left 
the  control  of  industry  in  capitalist  hands  could  be  more 
than  a  trifling  palliative,  a  mere  patchwork  tinkering  at  the 
shingles  on  the  roof  while  the  foundations  were  rotting 
to  destruction.  It  was  not  only  hopeless,  it  was  dangerous, 
lulling  the  workers  into  a  fal.se  content,  weaning  them 
away  from  the  stern  path  of  revolution.  And  it  was  worse 
than  hoi^eless  or  dangerous,  it  was  suiwrfluous,  for  already 
the  dawn  of  the  new  day  was  breaking:  patience  and 
sacrifice  yet  a  little,  and  the  proletarian  hosts  would  enter 
the  promised  land.  "Bourgeois  .society,"  declared  Belwl  in 
his  great  speech  on  party  tactics  at  Erfurt,  "is  working  so 
mightily  towards  its  own  downfall  that  we  only  need  to 
wait  the  moment  when  we  shall  have  to  take  up  the  power 
falling  from  its  hands.  Yes,  I  am  convinced  the  realiza- 
tion of  our  ultimate  goal  is  so  near  that  there  are  few  in  this 
hall  who  will  not  live  to  see  the  day."  * 

Few  revolutionaries  went  to  the  extreme  of  out-and-out 
opposition  to  betterment.  Reforms  were  permissible,  it 
was  held,  in  so  far  as  they  increased  the  fighting  force  of 
the  working  class  and  did  not  involve  either  in  their 
attainment  or  in  their  working  any  reconciliation  with  the 
governing  classes.^  In  practice,  however,  it  is  rather  dif- 

'  Protokoll,  Erfurt,  p.  172. 

•  Rebel,  ibid.,  p.  27.S :  '*  Wc  must  declare  with  the  utmost  emphasis  that 
no  positive  advantajje  whatever  can  have  any  other  end  than  making  the 
party  better  equipped  for  the  fray,  to  reach  the  great  undivided  goal 
the  quicker  and  the  mure  eagerly." 


i.   f' 


1  ^B  I 


I?    I® 
Ik  \ 

W.  i 

it  .  !. 

!■ 


•40 


SOCIALISM 


ficult  to  discern  the  psychological  point  at  which  better- 
ments produce  the  maximum  of  increase  in  the  ability  to 
fight  without  involving  a  slackening  in  the  will  to  fight. 
The  trade  union  was  encouraged,  rather  patronizingly, 
chiefly  as  a  recruiting-ground  for  party  forces  and  as  a 
means  of  keeping  the  class  spirit  alive  in  strike  and  strife. 
But  it  waa  maintained  that  the  scope  for  trade-union  action 
was  after  all  limited,  encroached  u{K>n  both  by  state  activ- 
ity and  by  capitalist  combination,  so  that  its  rOle  must  be 
of  less  importance  than  the  iKtlitical  action  of  the  party. 
Consumers'  cooperation,  the  most  successful  form,  was 
scornfully  rejected  by  Lassalle  as  powerless  in  any  degree 
to  better  the  condition  of  the  worker;  and  by  Marx  as 
being  a  mere  scratching  of  the  economic  surface.  More 
countenance  was  afforded  producers*  cooperation,  which 
was  in  fact  the  comer-stone  of  Lassalle's  system,  but  can- 
tankerously this  form  of  industrial  organization  has  failed 
to  achieve  much  success.'  Legislation  to  improve  the 
working  conditions  met  with  more  favor,  though  depre- 
cated by  the  radical  wing  as  only  incidental  to  the  move- 
ment,* or  shamefacedly  defended  as  necessary  bait. 

'  The  negative  attitude  of  the  party  is  well  summarized  in  the  resolu- 
tion of  the  Congress  of  Berlin,  18M:  "The  party  cannot  approve  the 
establishment  of  cofiperalive  societies,  except  when  designed  to  provide 
a  living  for  comrades  injured  in  the  political  or  union  struggle,  or  when 
serviceable  for  propaganda.  ...  If  these  different  conditions  are  not 
present,  th«  comrades  of  the  party  should  oppose  the  establishment  of 
coiiperative  societies;  they  should  especially  combat  the  opinion  that 
the  cofiperatives  are  able  to  affect  the  conditions  of  capitalist  production, 
to  raise  the  condition  of  the  working  classes,  or  even  to  attenuate  the 
class  struggle  of  the  workers  in  the  political  and  trade-union  field."  — 
Protokoll,  p.  220. 

•  Bebcl,  at  Erfurt:  "Hitherto  we  have  steadfastly  declared  we  are 
going  to  bring  in  the  social  democratic  society  to  take  the  place  of  the 
existing  bourgeois  society  and  its  political  superstructure,  the  existing 
state.  To  this  end  we  seek  to  capture  all  weapons  and  advantages  whicli 
may  help  us  in  the  fight  for  that  goal.  The  goal  in  its  entirety  is  the  main 
thing,  and  the  rest  incidental.  How  fa*  we  have  come  towards  securing 
certain  concessions,  in  the  moment  when  we  believe  we  are  about  to 
grasp  the  whole,  that  is  a  matter  of  sccocdary  coucem."  — PfotoktM,  p.  274. 


MiaOERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       «41 

The  Icwtk-  of  events  has  been  too  much  for  the  logic  of 
Marxism.  Stettdily  l\w  {>arty  has  l)een  iorc-eti  in  the  direc- 
tion of  laying  more  str«-*.s  i>n  the  iniraecl'ate  reforms,  and 
letting  the  goal  reeede  more  and  njore  intc  the  mists  of  the 
future.  The  unsuspected  vitaUty  of  <ui)it  ili.sm,  its  adapt- 
ability to  new  conditions,  has  comiwllcKi  th.>  abandonment 
of  tactics  natural  when  its  speedy  surrender  to  collectiv- 
ism was  fondly  hofjed.  Growing  rec-ognititm  of  the  un- 
soundness of  much  of  the  Marxian  theory  makes  ii  the 
same  direction.  But  the  chief  factor  in  the  change  has 
been  the  necessity  of  attracting  and  holding  the  masses  of 
the  workers  by  active  championing  of  their  present  needs. 
The  proletariat,  untaught  in  the  mysteries  of  Hegelian 
dialectic,  has  evidenced  a  crude  objection  to  playing  the 
r6le  sketched  in  the  party  programme,  of  "  growing  aug- 
mentation of  the  insecurity  of  their  existence,  of  misery, 
oppression,  enslavement,  debasement,  and  exploitation." 
It  cannot  be  persuaded,  once  it  has  been  roused  to  its 
wrongs  and  to  its  power,  to  sit  with  folded  hands  while  the 
slow  evolution  of  the  ages  works  out  the  salvation  of 
the  coming  time.  Lassalle  or.ce  declared  that  workingmen 
were  no  longer  to  be  put  off  with  checks  on  the  Bank  of 
Heaven;  neither,  it  appears,  are  they  content  with  checks 
on  the  Bank  of  the  future  Social  Democratic  State.  The 
trade  unions,  weak  and  subordinate  in  early  days,  have 
falsified  all  forecasts  by  surpassing  the  English  unions  in 
numbers  and  unifieil  organization,  and  by  approaching 
them  closely  in  financial  strength  and  in  stress  on  mutual 
insurance.  While  the  free  unions  —  as  opposed  to  the  more 
conservative  Christian,  Independent,  and  Hirsch-Duncker 
organizations  —  which  contain  the  majority  of  German 
unionists,  have  always  been  a  source  of  strength  to  the 
party  and  intimately  connected  with  it,  they  have  in  their 
new  might  insisted  on  the  equal  importance  of  economic 
action  and  on  the  necessity  of  directing  the  power  of  the 
party  more  and  more  to  the  attainment  of  immediate 


^ 


1  ■ 
J   Jl 


If 

if 


il 


I   ^    - 


^^^^r^^^ir 


242 


SOCIALISM 


m  i 


*  • 


reforms.*  The  closer  relations  with  the  coCperative  move- 
ment, consequent  on  the  recent  influx  of  thousands  of 
party  members  into  the  once  scorned  consumers'  cooper- 
ative societies,  is  profoundly  influencing  not  only  the  co- 
operative but  also  the  socialist  movement.  In  the  field  of 
social  legislation,  the  abandonment  in  1903  of  the  earlier 
attitude  of  voting  against  the  compulsory  workingmen's 
insurance  laws  on  the  plea  that  they  did  not  go  far  enough, 
without  any  radical  change  meantime  in  the  legislation 
itself,  is  significant  of  the  same  tendency.  In  all  directions 
as  the  "judgment  day"  forecast  of  capitalism  is  disproved 
by  fact,  the  tendency  is  to  accept  the  existing  order,  to 
strive  to  socialize  it  as  it  stands,  to  secure  for  the  working 
class  benefits  here  and  now,  step  by  step.* 

The  failure  of  the  Marxian  forecast  involves  further 
tactical  consequences.  The  middle  classes,  the  small  shop- 
keepers, the  small  farmers,  have  not  disappeared.  The 
industrial  working  classes  are  still  only  a  minority  of  the 
whole  population.  If  political  power  is  to  be  won,  and 
German  socialists  are  now  fervent  parliamentarians,  allies 
mus*  be  sought  elsewhere,  especially  among  the  peasants. 
But  to  the  German  peasant  of  the  South  or  West,  stub- 
bornly attached  to  his  hereditary  acres,  the  socialist  pro- 

•  Ct.  Sinyphusarbeit  oder  potitire  Erfolge,  Berlin.  Generalkommission 
der  Gewerkschaften;  a  reply,  by  the  editors  of  the  Corre»porulemb!uU,  the 
official  trade-union  orpin,  to  Kautsky's  Der  Weg  air  Maekt. 

*  Indirectly  the  so<>iali8t8  can  claim  a  share  of  the  crwlit  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  workingmen's  insurance  legislation  in  which  Germany 
has  led  the  world.  Cf.  the  sUtement  of  Bismarck  in  the  Reichstag,  Nov. 
26, 1884:  "  If  there  were  no  Social  Democrats,  and  if  there  were  not  great 
numbers  in  fear  of  them,  even  the  mo<lerate  advances  which  we  have 
hitherto  l)een  able  to  make  toward  social  reform  would  have  been  im- 
possible"; and  the  introductory  pn.ssage  of  the  Imp<Tial  Message  placing 
the  bill  for  insurance  against  accidents  before  the  Reichstag,  Nov.  17, 
1881 :  "We  have  already  given  expression  to  our  conviction  that  the  heal- 
ing of  social  wounds  is  to  be  st)ught  not  .solely  in  the  repression  of  Social 
Democratic  agitation,  but  equally  in  po.sitive  provision  for  the  welfare  of 
the  worker."  —  Schippel,  Sozialdemokratischet  Reidutagt-handbuch.  po. 
107. 117.  ^*' 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       24S 

gramme  of  the  inevitable  crushing-out  of  the  small  farm 
by  the  large  estate  offers  little  attraction.  If  his  vote  is 
to  be  won  the  socialist  party  must  meet  the  agrarian  party's 
bribe  of  tariff  protection.'  Following  the  lead  of  the 
opportunist  South  German  agricultural  states,  the  national 
Congress  of  Frankfort  in  1894  appointed  a  commission  to 
draw  up  an  agrarian  programme.  The  suggestions  sub- 
mitted at  Breslau  the  following  year  included  extension 
of  the  national  and  municipal  domain  and  a  fair  rent  com- 
mission, state  assumption  of  mortgages,  state  insurance, 
cheap  state  loans  to  the  peasants,  extension  of  state  credit 
to  associations  for  improving  the  soil.  In  spite  of  the  sup- 
port of  Bebel  and  Liebknecht,  the  report  was  roundly  con- 
demned by  the  rank  and  file  as  quackery,  as  a  flouting  of 
the  party  programme,  a  flying  in  the  face  of  economic 
destm; ,  an  impossible  and  un  »^orthy  attempt  to  compete 
with  the  agrarian  and  anti-Sciuite  parties  on  their  own 
ground:  som-  ''  the  paragraphs  of  the  commission's  report 
were  shown  by  Sohippel  to  be  Ixirrowed  word  for  word 
from  a  proposal  of  an  uliia-rcaetionary  Austrian  minister 
of  state.  Why  worry  alwut  the  peasant's  debts  and  his 
failing  crops  or  falling  prices?  "The  interest  of  the  party 
demands  that  the  jjeasants  fall  into  the  proletariat,  how- 
ever unpleasant  the  proceeding  may  be  for  them."  Since 
Marx  has  demonstrated  that  by  the  inevitable  working 
of  capitalist  evolution  the  destiny  of  the  peasant  is  to  climb 
down  rung  after  rung  of  the  ladder  of  wretchedness,  why 
give  him  artificial  aid  to  hold  him  up?  *  Yet  the  victory  of 

'  "  Without  and  against  the  roo<1  will  of  the  rural  population  in  a  land 
like  tiorniany,  it  is  impossible  to  bring  about  a  thoroughgoing  social  and 
political  revolution.  .  .  .  The  peasant  will  not  l)C  content  either  with 
empty  critirism  or  with  pointing  to  the  future;  like  the  workingman,  he 
demands  positive  aids  to  the  betterment  of  his  conditions  here  and  now." 
—  Von  VoUmar.  Protokoll,  Frankfort.  1891.  pp.  1 W.  UO. 

'  The  amendment  adopted  by  the  congress  by  a  vote  of  three  to  one 
ran:  "The  draft  for  an  agrarian  programme  subinitte<l  by  the  agrarian 
commission  should  be  rejected.  This  programme  gives  the  peasant  cause 


^^^^ 


21 

1 


,  .] 


r\ 


i 


n 


i  !i 


tM 

I.   1 


!r  \i 


*    J5 


244 


SOCIALISM 


the  revolutionary  wing  has  not  proved  lasting.  WTiile  the 
party  has  never  formally  reversed  the  Breslau  decision, 
the  tendency  has  been  to  lay  more  and  more  stress  on 
"peasant-fishing."  The  need  of  votes  —  the  party  must 
go  forward  or  go  back  —  the  example  of  socialist  parties 
elsewhere,  the  growing  conviction  that  the  transition  to 
the  better  society  of  the  future  must  begin  now  and  not 
after  a  judgment  day  collapse,  make  it  necessary  to  cham- 
pion the  cause  of  all  classes  with  grievances  to  heal, 
whether  peasant  or  shopkeeper  or  small  oflSceholder. 

While  the  German  Social  Democratic  party  is  still  in  the 
main  composed  of  working-class  members,  it  has  failed  to 
maintain  its  purely  proletarian  class-struggle  character. 
The  party  which  declares  in  its  programme  that  the  eman- 
cipation of  mankind  from  capitalism  must  be  the  work  of 
the  working  classes  alone,  sends  to  parliament  among  its 
leaders  "solicitors,  authors,  millionaires,  merchants,  uni- 
versity lecturers  and  capitalists."  '  The  rank  and  file,  it  has 
been  conclusively  shown,  include  over  half  a  million  voters 
from  other  than  proletarian  strata.*  The  party  has  in  fact 
become  the  medium  by  which  discontent  in  any  quarter 
with  the  political  or  economic  situation  may  most  effect- 
ively be  expressed.  Its  practical  activity  is  directed  more 
and  more  towards  protesting  against  the  HohenzoUem- 
Junker-Bureaucratic  dominance,  toward  demands  for 
democratic  reform. 

to  hope  (or  the  betterment  of  his  condition,  and  the  buttressing  of  his 
private  property;  it  implies  that  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  under  the 
exiNting  social  order  is  a  matter  concerning  the  proletariat,  whereas  the 
cultivation  of  the  soil  as  well  as  the  interests  of  industry,  under  the  regime 
of  private  property  in  the  means  of  production,  arc  interests  of  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  means  of  production,  of  the  exploiters  of  the  proletariat. 
Further,  the  draft  of  the  agrarian  programme  confers  new  powers  on  the 
class  state  and  thereby  increases  the  difficulties  of  the  class  struggle  of 
the  proletariat;  and  finally  the  project  lays  on  the  capitalist  state  duties 
which  can  only  h:  accomplished  by  a  state  in  which  the  proletariat 
has  conquered  political  power."  —  ProtokoU,  Breslau,  p.  104. 
»  Brunhuber  op.  cit.,  p.  149.    •  ArchivfUr  SosialvnitetuchaSt,  xx.  p.  507. 


f  i 

If 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT        245 

Consider  any  current  election  manifesto,  the  report  of 
the  Reichstag  fraction  to  the  annual  congress,  or  those  sec- 
tions of  the  second  part  of  the  Erfurt  Programme  to  which 
reference  has  not  already  been  made.  There  is  little  which 
is  not  to-day  advocated  by  radical  parties  elsewhere.  Take 
the  political  demands.  Proportional  representation  may 
be  urged  by  a  scattered  minority  of  any  hue,  socialist  or 
anti-socialist.  The  opposition  offered  to  the  personal 
government  of  Kaiser  and  Chancellor  commends  itself  to 
all  adherents  of  party  government  and  cabinet  respons- 
ibility. The  demand  for  two-year  parliaments  may  be 
unwise,  but  it  is  an  institution  which  has  prevailed  for 
over  a  century  in  the  popular  House  in  the  United  States. 
The  referendum  and  initiative,  expedients  serviceable,  if 
anywhere,  in  countries  lacking  cabinet  government,  are 
advocated  not  only  by  radicals  but  by  conservatives  of  the 
English  Spectator  type,  who  imagine  that  the  voice  of 
the  people  when  heard  clear  and  unconfused  will  make  for 
moderation.  Compulsory  primary  education  meets  little 
opposition;  whether  it  should  be  secular  depends  on  one's 
theological  rather  than  on  one's  economic  views;  and  many 
w^M  grant  that  it  should  be  free  who  will  find  no  overwhelm- 
ing need  for  the  free  legal  and  medical  aid  next  demanded. 
Criminal  appeal,  indemnification  of  persons  wrongly  pro- 
secuted, popular  election  of  judges,  these  are  proposals 
which  have  little  connection  with  the  coUectivist  common- 
wealth, and  the  advocacy  of  the  abolition  of  capital  pun- 
ishment must  be  set  down  to  an  unlucky  verbal  ambiguity 
or  to  a  sur\'ival  of  Utopian  humanitarianism,»  Graduated 
income,  property  and  inheritance  taxes,  while  fre- 
quently dubbed  socialistic  by  men  unwilling  to  bear  their 
share  of  the  state's  burdens,  are  not  so  in  essence,  though 
they  might  be  in  extreme  application.  The  opposition  to 

'  "This  demand  is  a  dictate  of  reason  and  humanity  and  therefore 
a  demand  of  the  Social  Democracy."  — "Ziele  und  Wege,"ed.  Braun. 
p.  30. 


If" 

i 

i-i 

'-  fe 

'-    Hi 

■   ^tM:^ 

•\  W 

', 

1 

■. 

r 

1 

i 

■ 

1 

i 

w 

■  ; 

•i 

t 

i 

i 

» 

is 

■t 

!  5 


-a.  '     [  :S 

'I  '      \    • 


i.i' 


pi: 


m 

i 
f 


246 


SOCIALISM 


■n^i 


protection,  and  C3|)ecially  to  food  taxes,  which  has  helped 
and  will  continue  to  help  the  party  with  the  millions  of 
consumers  groaning  under  the  agrarian  yoke,  may  be  in 
line  with  the  interests  of  the  masses;  it  is,  however,  as 
open  to  the  protectionist  as  to  the  freetrader  to  quote  the 
sanction  of  socialist  principles  for  his  policy.' 

To  pass  to  another  much  debated  point.  Religion,  the 
Erfurt  Progra'  .me  declares,  is  a  private  matter,  conse- 
quently all  state  contributions  to  church  purposes  are  to 
be  abolished,  and  public  education  secularized.  The  atti- 
tude of  the  party  to  religion  has  been  a  matter  of  long 
debate.  On  the  face  of  it  there  seems  no  reason  why  a 
believer  in  the  collective  ownership  of  the  means  of  pro- 
duction should  not  also  be  a  believer  in  Christianity,  or  in 
Mohammedanism.  Yet  as  a  matter  of  fact  in  Europe 
organized  socialism  and  organized  Christianity  have  long 
been  at  daggers  drawn.  The  opposition  of  the  churches, 
especially  the  Catholic  Church,  is  due  not  merely  to  the 
theoretical  opposition  of  believers  in  private  property  and 
the  practical  opposition  of  holders  of  private  property,  nor 
to  the  special  concern  with  the  justice  which  socialist 
expropriation  would  flout,  but  to  the  unwillingness  to 
accept  as  satisfactory  a  "neutrality"  which  even  if  ob- 
served has  as  its  corollaries  abolition  of  state  aid  to  ecclesi- 
astical purposes  and  of  ecclesiastical  control  of  schools. 
The  Marxian  sorialist,  on  the  other  hand,  believes  that  the 
churches  have  used  their  influence  to  benumb  the  masses 
into  content.  His  radicalism  in  one  sphere  makes  ready 
the  ground  for  the  radicalism  current  in  another  sphere, 
just  as  the  vegetarian  is  more  ap\  than  other  men  to  he 
an  anti-vaccinationist  or  New  Thought  adherent.  He  is 
a  believer  in  a  materialistic  interpretation  of  history  and 
life  which  leads  to  estimating  religion  in  terms  of  eco- 
nomics.  He  is  intimate  with  the  anti-theological  views  of 

'  ('f .  the  vcr>-  able  Schippel-Kautsky  debate,  Stuttgart  Congress,  1898, 
ProtokoU,  pp.  17i-205. 


f^-ff 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       «47 

the  scientists  whom  he  consults  to  buttress  his  theories  of 
social  evolution.  There  results  therefore  a  disbelief  in  the 
dogmas  and  institutions  of  Christianity  which  finds  ex- 
pression in  countless  utterances,  from  Bebel's  declaration 
in  the  Reichstag  in  1881  that  "in  politics  we  profess  re- 
publicanism, in  economics  socialism,  in  religion  atheism," 
down  to  the  latest  (Christmas  parody  in  the  Vorwdrts.^ 
At  the  same  time  tactical  exigencies  demand  the  cessation 
of  active  opposition  if  the  suffrages  of  the  CathoUc  work- 
man and  the  Catholic  peasant  are  to  be  won.  "We  must," 
declared  the  Catholic  and  opportunist  von  VoUmar,  out- 
lining an  agrarian  plan  of  campaign,  "we  must  put  the  fine 
words  of  our  programme  into  practice  and  maintain  ab- 
solute neutrality.  We  must  do  away  entirely  with  the  equi- 
vocation of  declaring  that  religion  is  a  private  matter  and 
at  the  same  time  continuing  the  tactics  of  base  and  stupid 
priest-eating  and  beating  on  the  drum  of  science  which 
have  done  the  party  so  much  harm." "  The  equivocation 
still  is  manifest;  the  party  officially  protests  neutrality, 
while  the  official  publishing  houses  issue  anti-religious 
pamphlets  by  the  score. 

One  more  subject  may  r)e  mentioned  which  has  always 
bulked  large  in  the  socialist  discussion  —  the  attitude  to 
patriotism  and  to  military  and  naval  armaments.  To  the 
socialist  of  a  generation  ago  patriotism  was  a  bourgeois 
prejudice:  the  proletarian  could  have  no  country.  The 
lines  must  be  drawn  horizontally  between  classes,  not 
vertically  between  countries.  Capitalist  enterprise  had 
made  the  world  one  common  market;  the  working  class 
of  the  world  must  make  it  one  common  battlefield.  War, 
and  the  huge  miUtary  and  naval  preparations  of  armed 

'  See  manifold  quotations  in  Cnthrein,  Sodalism.  translated  hy 
n.-ttlemann,  pp.  2nt-2i'5,  and  cspociiilly  in  Ming's  The  Characterinfica 
and  Ike  Religion  of  Motlrrn  SorialiKm,  a  study  from  the  Catholic  stand- 
point written  with  more  than  the  usual  fairness  and  knowledge. 

•  Congress  of  Frankfurt,  1801,  PmUiknll,  p.  U8, 


:■  ;i 


Ufil 


^■Jf.^^£?u^^SS^^P5^.^»55^m^^^ 


248 


SOCIALISM 


II 


left  - 


peace,  have  been  even  more  strongly  opposed,  not  merely 
on  humanitarian  grounds,  but  because  of  the  reactionary 
results  of  external  warfare  on  internal  politics,  the  unfair 
share  of  the  burden  and  sacrifice  of  life  that  falls  on  the 
working  class,  the  use  of  the  army  to  overawe  strikes,  and 
the  general  support  received  by  the  capitalist  state  from 
the  sword.  The  German  Social  Democracy  is  still  honor- 
ably distinguished  by  its  eflforts  to  maintain  international 
good  will,  but  even  on  this  point  it  has  undergone  a  change. 
It  may  not  be  less  international  than  before,  but  it  is  more 
national.  Lassalle  has  conquered  Marx.  The  German 
socialist,  fatherlandless  fellow  though  his  Emperor  has 
called  him,  has  been  infected  by  the  exuberant  patriotism 
of  his  fellow  citizens.  He  is  still  on  the  extreme  left  of 
German  sentiment,  still  opposed  to  naval  expansion,  and 
Weltpolitik,>  but  he  is  much  more  in  sympathy  with  the 
ambitions  of  the  rulers  of  the  Fatherland  than  were  the 
men  of  the  last  generation  who  gladly  went  to  prison  for 
their  opposition  to  the  Franco-Prussian  War.  Distinc- 
tions are  made  between  defensive  and  aggressive  warfare, 
between  war  with  reactionary  Russia  and  war  with  demo- 
cratic France.  Should  we  not  so  far  abandon  our  attitude 
of  no  compromise  with  militarism  as  to  vote  supplies  for 
the  substitution  of  less  conspicuous  uniforms,  and  save 
thousands  of  proletarian  lives  in  the  next  war?  asked 
Bebel  in  1890.'  And  for  better  guns  ?  deduced  Heine  in  his 
famous  cannon  speech  in  1898.  May  not  the  existing  army 
be  modified,  be  developed  into  the  democratic  citizen-mili- 
tia the  programme  demands  ?  continued  Schippel  the  same 
year,  only  to  find,  however,  his  party  unwilling  to  be  hurried 
at  his  pace  and  passing  a  condemnatory  resolution.*  The 
length  the  party  has  traveled  from  its  starting-point  was 

'  Cf.  election  address  of  German  Social  Democrats,  1907;  b  Ensor, 
p.  369. 

'  Congress  of  Halle,  PratokM,  p.  104. 
•  Congress  of  Hanover,  ProtokoU,  p.  68. 


W^jmsL\ 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       849 

revealed  in  the  International  Congress  at  Stuttgart  in 
1907  by  the  strong  hostility  offered  by  the  German  leaders 
to  the  French  programme  of  war  on  war.'  It  is  true  the 
dashing  assaults  of  Ilcrv^  compelled  the  German  repre- 
sentatives to  agree  to  a  resolution  much  more  radical  than 
any  one  anticipated,  and  that  since  the  congress  Karl 
Liebknecht  and  others  have  carried  on  a  mild  version  of 
the  Herv6  campaign.  Yet  the  strong  current  runs  in  the 
other  direction.  The  heavy  losses  in  representation  suffered 
by  the  socialists  in  the  khaki  election  of  1907  led  to  many 
fervent  protestations  of  patriotism  and  readiness  to  shoul- 
der a  gun,  "  in  defensive  warfare."  A  speech  made  by  Com- 
rade Noske  in  the  Reichstag  was  especially  compromising; 
at  the  Congress  of  Essen,  held  a  month  after  the  Inter- 
national Congress  of  Stuttgart,  it  was  sharply  criticised  by 
such  unyielding  radicals  as  Ledebour,  Kautsky,  Karl 
Liebknecht,  Stadthagen,  and  Clara  Zetkin,  but,  at  Bebel's 
instance,  the  vote  of  censure  was  rejected  by  an  overwhelm- 
ing majority.'  "The  relative  importance  of  the  national 
and  international  ideals  in  German  socialist  professions," 
declares  the  most  objective  and  clearsighted  student  of 
socialism,  "has  been  reversed  since  the  seventies.'"  And 
he  continues,  showing  that  this  shift  of  attitude  is  all  of  a 
piece  with  the  change  on  other  points,  "The  Social  Demo- 
crats have  come  to  be  German  patriots  first  and  socialists 
second,  which  comes  to  saying  that  they  are  a  political 
party  working  for  the  maintenance  of  the  existing  order, 
with  modifications.  They  are  no  longer  a  party  of  revolu- 
tion, but  of  reform,  though  the  measure  of  reform  which 
they  demand  greatly  exceeds  the  HohenzoUem  limit  of 
tolerance.   They  are  now  as  much,  if  not  more,  in  touch 

»  PntokoU,  Stuttgart,  pp.  64-70,  81-10.5. 

»  Prototott.  Essen,  pp.  486-265 ;  cf.  Miehels,  "Le  Patriotisme  des 
sodalistes  allemands  et  le  Congiis  d'Essen."  Le  mouvement  socialitte,  no. 
194,  pp.  5-13. 

»  Veblen,  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economies,  xsi,  pp.  320-331. 


)§$m 


Jg. 


S50 


SOCIALISM 


with  the  ideas  of  English  liberalism  than  with  those  of 
revolutionary  Marxism." 

This  gradual  movement  toward  acceptance  of  the  exist- 
ing order  has  not  been  shared  in  equal  degree  by  all  sections 
of  the  party.  Each  change  in  tactics,  as  has  been  indicated, 
has  come  as  the  result  of  vigorous  conflict  within  the  party. 
Revolutionary  and  reformist  tendencies  have  been  opposed 
from  the  outset,  the  personnel  always  shifting,  the  point  at 
issue  changing  with  the  changing  time,  but  the  opposition 
never  ceasing  to  exist.  It  would  not  be  correct  to  say  that 
the  revolutionary  wing  laid  stress  only  on  the  far  goal  and 
rejected  all  immediate  betterments,  and  that  the  reformist 
wing  lost  sight  of  the  goal  in  the  preoccupation  with  nearest 
needs,  but  in  greater  or  less  degree  differences  of  emphasis, 
approaching  these  extremes,  mark  the  long  debates  over 
the  party's  tactics,  and  especially  so  since  the  close  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  From  the  Congress  of  Stuttgart  in 
1898  to  the  Congress  of  Dresden  in  1903  the  party  was  rent 
by  controversy  on  questions  of  theory,  by  the  struggle 
between  the  heterodox,  led  by  Bernstein,  and  the  orthodox, 
led  by  Kautsky,  as  to  whether  the  Marxian  forecast  of 
capitalist  development  had  been  borne  out  by  time.  In  the 
latter  year  the  revisionist  doctrines  were  overwhelmingly 
rejected;  the  party  refused  to  make  public  confession  of  the 
abandonment  of  the  creed  it  had  so  long  defended.'  The 
temporary  success  of  the  Russian  revolutionists  gave  new 
life  to  the  wing  which  rejected  compromise;  the  Congress 
of  Jena,  in  1905,  even  coquetted  with  the  general  strike, 
so  far  as  waged  for  political  ends,  but  the  Congress  of 
Mannheim  in  the  foUowinp.  year  yielded  to  trade-union 
opinion  and  watered  down  the  Jena  resolution.   In  recent 

'  "  It  was  in  vain  that  Berastein  called  upon  the  Social  Democracy  'to 
dare  to  appear  what  it  was  in  reality  —  a  democratic,  socialistic  party  of 
reform.'  .  .  .  Theories  always  have  a  more  hardy  life  than  tactics;  they 
8urviv>  a  the  form  of  sterile  and  empty  formulas,  the  facts  which  had 
given  them  birth."  —  Boris  Kritchewsky,  Le  mouvement  locialUte,  no. 
203,  p.  287. 


If  Si; 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       251 


years  reformist  effort  has  been  concentrated  on  practice 
rather  than  on  theory :  the  controversies  have  turned  on 
the  betterment  activities  of  trade  union  and  )eperative, 
on  electoral  alliances  and  parliamentary  cooperation  with 
bourgeois  parties,  on  voting  for  or  against  the  budget. 
The  revisionist  theorists,  the  trade-union  and  cooperative 
leaders,  the  South  German  state  leaders  and  the  majority 
of  the  Reichstag  deputies  have  acted  in  concert,  though  as 
yet,  in  spite  of  many  gains,  they  have  not  been  able  to 
muster,  in  the  party  congresses,  forces  suflBcient  to  outvote 
the  radical  rank  and  file,  who  have  their  chief  fortresses  in 
Saxony  and  Prussia. 

The  future  of  German  Social  Democracy  appears  to  be- 
long to  the  opportunist  wing.  The  fundamental  fact  in  the 
political  situation  is,  that  parliamentary  victory  means  ob- 
taining a  popular  majority,  that  this  majority  cannot  be 
secured  by  the  votes  the  socialists  can  hope  to  get  from  the 
urban  working  classes  alone,  and  that  the  consequent  neces- 
sity of  securing,  directly  or  by  alliance,  the  sup{)ort  of  other 
sections  of  the  nation,  must  exercise  a  determining  influence 
on  the  tactics  and  the  programme  of  the  party.  Whether 
the  party  will  maintain  its  attitude  of  trust  in  parliamentary 
action,  as  present  appearances  indicate,  and,  if  it  does,  ut 
what  pace  and  with  what  baitings  and  backsets  it  will  ad- 
vance along  the  path  of  democratic  reform,  only  the  future 
can  unshroud.  Commercial  depression  at  home  or  war 
abroad  would  make  for  revolutionary  revival,  prosperity 
and  peace  for  reconcilement.  The  maintenance  of  the  ex- 
isting three-class  suffrage  in  Prussia  would  keep  Prussian 
socialism  doctrinaire  and  uncompromising;  a  broad  fran- 
chise, and  the  power  that  would  follow  it,  would  have  on  the 
socialists  of  the  North  the  sobering  effect  they  have  had  on 
the  socialists  of  the  South.  The  introduction  of  responsible 
government  and  the  consequent  greater  cooperation  be- 
tween the  different  factions  in  the  Reichstag  would  be  even 
more  effective  in  strengthening  the  reformist  tendency. 


1-1 


i  % 


}i^:^.:^%d 


S52 


SOCIALISM 


Dissatisfaction  with  personal  government  by  a  Kaiser  rul- 
ing by  divine  right  baa  greatly  stimulated  tht  movement 
for  cabinet  government;  the  action  of  the  "blue-black 
bloc"  —  the  alliance  of  Conservative  and  Centre  —  in 
throwing  the  burden  of  new  taxation  on  the  shoulders  least 
able  to  bear  it  has  made  the  parties  of  the  Left,  the  Na- 
tional Liberals.  —  especially  the  Young  Liberal  wing,  who 
seek  to  restore  German  Liberalism  to  its  historic  d  .>mo- 
cratic  position, — the  Radicals,  now  united,  and  the  Social 
Democrats,  realize  their  common  danger  and  their  common 
ground,  and  has  made  the  suggestion  of  an  alliance  from 
Bassermann  to  Bebel  seem  more  plausible  than  at  any  pre- 
vious stage  in  Germany's  development.  An  alliance  be- 
tween forces  which  for  a  generation  have  been  so  strongly 
opposed  could  be  brought  about  only  under  great  pressure, 
but  some  degree  of  cooperation  with  the  parties  of  the  I>'ft 
for  their  common  ends  is  evidently  a  necessity  of  the 
immediate  future. 

Every  country  gets  the  socialists  it  deserves,  from  the 
bomb-throwing  revolutionaries  of  autocratic  Russia  to  the 
gas-and-water  Fabians  of  democratic  Britain.  For  all  his 
cosmopolitanism  the  socialist  is  unable  to  escape  the  mould- 
ing force  of  national  environment.  The  French  socialist 
movement,  at  one  with  the  German  development  in  many 
fundamental  points,  bears  the  mark  of  wide  differences  in 
historical  antecedents  and  national  temperament  as  well 
as  in  economic  and  political  conditions. 

The  French  socialist  movement  has  been  profoundly 
affected  by  the  revolutionary  tradition  which  is  its  herit- 
age. The  dramatic  days  of  the  overthrow  of  feudalism,  the 
barricades  of  '48,  and  the  fires  of  '71  form  a  background 
which  finus  no  parallel  across  the  Rhine.  "A  working- 
man's  '93"  is  the  ideal  which  is  never  far  from  the  mind 
of  the  class-conscious  proletarian.  His  impetuous  courage, 
hia  idealism,  his  thoroughgoing  logic,  his  chafing  at  dis- 


tM:'P 


m 


I  Jg"W^" 


THE  MODERN  SOCI   IJST  MOVEMENT       858 

cipline,  have  made  the  French  movement  at  once  more 
spectacular  than  the  German,  and  less  cfficirnt,  at  least  as 
the  drill  sergeant  rates  efficiency.  The  economic  environ- 
ment has  had  its  influence.  France  is  preeminently  the 
land  of  the  peasant  and  the  artisan,  the  land  where  in 
spite  of  a  steady  advance  of  large-scale  production,  espe- 
cially in  the  north,  the  small  industry  still  holds  its  ground 
the  firmest  and  the  persona  I  equation  counts  for  most,  the 
land  of  the  most  even  and  universal  distribution  of  wealth, 
the  land,  in  brief,  where  the  Marxian  forecast  of  capitalistic 
evolution  finds  tardiest  fulfillment.  Important,  too,  is  the 
political  environment.  The  survivals  of  feudal  privilege, 
the  powerlessness  o'  the  Reichstag,  the  restricted  suffrage 
of  Pl-ussia,  which  weaken  the  force  and  strengthen  the 
intr*nsipeance  of  German  social  democracy,  find  little 
pardlel  in  a  land  where  republican  equality,  universal  and 
equal  suffrage,  and  a  central  parliament  in  control  of  the 
cabinet  executive  open  the  path  to  power  and  to  reconcil- 
iation to  the  state.  In  France,  however,  as  in  Germany, 
the  group  system  makes  against  the  consolidation  of  all  the 
forces  of  the  Left. 

Corresponding  in  some  degree  to  this  difference  in 
environment,  expressing  and  accentuating  it,  is  the  differ- 
ence in  theoretical  inheritance.  A  strong  idealist  strain 
has  persisted  throughout  the  w'lole  French  socialist 
movement,  surviving  from  the  humanitarianism  of  the 
eighteenth  century  and  the  Utopianism  which  continued 
that  tradition.  The  petty  bourgeois  anarchism  of  Proud- 
hon,  itself  a  variant  of  Utopianism,  which  permeated  the 
thought  of  radical  Franco  in  the  fifties  and  sixties,  and 
formed  the  chief  theoretical  equipment  of  the  French  sec- 
tion of  the  International,  has  continued  to  exert  a  power- 
ful influence.  Then  in  the  seventies  the  class  war  and 
economic  fjitalism  of  Marxism  entered  France,  and  mnde 
a  second  Grerman  conquest,  especially  in  the  industrial 
north. 


ill 


m^^'^.^h^t.Yms^im 


U4 


SOCIALISM 


The  socialist  movement  which  developed  under  these 
various  influences  of  theoretical  and  of  racial  and  eco- 
nomic and  political  environment  has  been  marked  by 
little  of  the  disciplined  unity  of  the  German  record.  Each 
tendency  has  lieen  embodied  in  a  distinct  party,  fighting 
for  its  own  hand.  The  many  able  leaders  the  movement 
has  called  forth  have  found  it  difficult  to  sacrifice  their 
cherished  princi^'cs  and  their  personal  ambitions  on  the 
altar  of  harmony.  Faction  ha?  fought  against  faction,  on 
the  platform  and  at  the  polls,  —  it  is  the  shades,  not  the 
colors,  that  hate  one  another,  the  French  proverb  rmis,  — 
and  union  has  been  patched  up  in  one  direction  only  to 
be  offset  by  a  split  in  some  other  section  of  this  unluckily 
fissiparous  movement. 

Yet  underiying  all  the  shifts  of  faction  and  the  antagon- 
ism of  individuals  a  broad  general  tendency  may  be  dis- 
cerned. In  the  main  the  experience  of  the  French  socialists 
IS  the  experience  of  the  German  socialists  in  the  ac?entu- 
ated  form  to  be  expected  from  the  more  democratic 
environment.  Forty  years  of  discussion  and  action  have 
shown  the  impossibility  of  a  strong  movement  maintain- 
ing the  barren  and  irreconcilable  attitude  of  the  class- 
struggle  fatalist.  Given  the  ^rst  step  in  compromise  with 
existing  society— the  participation  in  politics  — and 
there  follow  more  or  less  slowly  growing  stress  on  positive 
action  here  and  now,  gradual  loss  of  the  exclusively  prole- 
tarian character,  increasing  acceptance  of  the  state.  It  is 
true  there  continue  to  be  within  the  movement,  strife  of 
radical  and  moderate,  degrees  of  reconciliation  to  the 
existing  order.  In  the  gradual  slide  down  the  slope  of 
pariiamentarism  the  Left  still  keeps  relatively  Left.  The 
history  of  the  political  movement  is  the  record  at  once 
of  the  conflict  between  revolutionary  and  reformist  tend- 
encies, and  of  the  gradual  drift  toward  the  reformist 
attitude.  This,  however,  is  not  the  complete  record  of  the 
socialist  movement  in  France.   The  chief  development  of 


l'-^--^ 


>•" 


'IT?  '  "-J.-' 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       2M 

reccnl  years  has  been  a  reaction  af^ainst  parliamentary 
compronii.se,  a  revivul  of  revolutionary  zeul  finding  ex- 
pression not  in  political  but  in  economic  action  —  the 
growth,  namely,  of  syndicalism. 

Until  of  recent  years  economic  activity  played  small 
part  in  .socialist  strategy.  The  coi)p««rative  method  of 
socializing  capitalism  was  looked  on  with  si)ecial  disfavor 
by  the  socialists  of  the  straiter  observance.  Profit-sharing, 
an  offshoot  of  Utopian  preaching,  •  regarded  as  a 
bourgeois  snare,  and  the  French  de 
coSperatlon  and  the  English  dev 
cooperation  met  neutrality  at  hr  ' 
regarded  with  more  favor,  an  i  » 
groups  took  an  active  part  in  i  ii'  i.c 
organization.  The  great  mj  !  "  i.v 
however,  regarded  it  as  det  i  ii 
helpful  not  so  much  through  its  <  \ 
aid  to  the  political  party.  The  .sec;^ 
Guesdists,  or  orthodox  Marxists,  a 
sufficient';  revealed  in  the  official  recommendation  to  the 
members  of  the  party  to  join  a  union  —  in  order  "to 
spread  the  d  jctrine  of  .socialism  and  recruit  adherents  for 
the  programme  and  policy  of  the  party."'  The  trade 
unions,  on  the  other  hand,  were  too  weak  to  exercise 
important  influence  on  the  political  movement.  The 
p^i-sistence  of  small  industry,  the  hostility  of  cramping 
legislation,  the  tendency  to  division  auJ  sectionalism, 
the  reluctance  of  the  average  vorhman  to  undergo  the 
trouble  and  expense  of  permanent  organization,^  long  made 
French  unionism  a  negligible  quantity  compared  with  the 
English  or  even  the  German  movement. 

'  (^ompte-rend';,  Confn^ss  of  the  parti  ouvrier  fr".n5ai8;  Lille,  1890. 

'  Cf.  the  comment  of  an  Enitli-sh  trade  uniouist  at  an  Intcrnatiunul 
Congress:  "When  it's  a  question  of  holding  up  hands  to  vote  on  r»'solu- 
tions  our  French  friends  ar»'  always  ready,  t>ut  when  it 's  a  question  of 
putting  hands  into  pockets  tliey  are  not  to  be  found.  " — Cited  in  Vander- 
vciUe,  La  Greve  GilUrale,  p.  ib. 


.!'  uiot  pmducers' 

.          _    .    1           '    _ 

•  -      -rs' 

'1'.  ■  ti" 

•'  '  ••      as 

u-:.\y    vf  f»., 

>'ri    .      It 

y  1    ■'   ■*  i  -ni 

■'1^'  <  ...    d 

.'■  :  .■.«.<!. 

-w  ia.iJs, 

■  ■    <  ,'  ■  .i'l    ■  I 

i    /.L(  tor. 

.;     *'    ',      -^    .       i 

.r"i!.v»  its 

^li'l^rv  r-jli- 

•  'ill  'i  the 

I  •   ••     '. I   till- 

ij'  on  19 

»l 


-  'I 


H! 


jiS?*ta}j 


256 


SOCIALISM 


Economic  weapons  disregarded,  the  field  was  divided 
by  the  advocates  of  force  and  the  advocates  of  political 
action.  At  the  extreme  left,  reckoned  by  opposition  to 
parliamentary  activity,  stood  the  anarchists,  so  I'ar  to  the 
left,  indeed,  as  to  be  disowned  by  the  majority  of  socialists. 
It  is  true  the  anarchist  has  as  many  points  of  antagonism 
to  the  orthodox  socialist  as  of  agreement  with  him :  while 
he  is  the  heir  of  the  Utopian  socialist  in  the  stress  laid  on 
abstract  principles  of  justice  and  fraternity,  in  the  appeal 
to  all  classes  indiscriminately,  in  the  distrust  of  large-scale 
production,  these  are  just  the  points  in  which  the  Utopian 
socialist  differed  most  widely  from  Marxism,  with  its 
stress  on  economic  rather  than  ideal  forces  and  its  exclu- 
sively proletarian  appeal.  And  while,  again,  anarchists 
like  Bakunin  looked  forward  to  a  collectivist  organization 
of  free  society  and  Kropotkin  finds  his  ideal  in  communism, 
the  persistence  of  individualist  tendencies  among  the 
anarchists  of  the  Tucker  school  makes  it  impossible  to 
identify  socialism  and  anarchism  in  their  forecast  of  the 
future.'  So  far  as  Marx  and  Engels  and  their  earlier  follow- 
ers are  concerned,  the  claim  of  the  anarchist  to  kinship 
rests  mainly  in  their  common  repudiation  of  the  state, 
their  expectation  that  it  would  "die  out."  But  while  Marx 
sancticied  participation  in  politics  tm  a  means  of  securing? 
control  of  the  .state  and  inducing  it  to  perform  harikari, 
the  anarchist  rigidly  abstains  from  any  compromisirif? 
share  in  political  activity  and  especially  opposes  piecenioul 
reforms,  whether  as  sustenance  or  as  imit.  Persuasion  is 
his  sole  tactics.  Paradoxically,  to  the  wing  of  the  ananii- 
ists  most  in  public  gaze,  persuasion  and  force  have  conic 
to  be  near  allied,  through  adherence  to  the  cry  of  "propa- 
ganda by  deed,"  the  policy  of  throwing  bombs  into  public 
gatherings  and  striking  daggers  into  the  hearts  of  empresM's 
in  order  to  attract  the  attention  of  a  busy  and  blas^  world. 
This  policy  of  advertising  by  dynamite  has  not  found 
'  Cf.  Ellzbocber,  Anarchitm,  traiulated  by  ByiogtoD,  p.  883. 


•ifi.^s^i:^;K:' 


THE  MODFRN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT        M7 

many  adherents:  '  t  would  be  possible,"  declared  Lieb- 
knecht  with  rhctov:cal  exaggeratiou,  "to  pack  all  the 
anarchists  in  Europe  in  a  couple  of  police  wagons."  So 
far  as  France  is  concerned,  the  anarchists,  distinctly  repu- 
diated and  excommunicated  by  the  socialists  of  political 
tendencies,  counted  for  little  in  the  social  movement  until 
the  rise  of  syndicalism  gave  them  new  audience. 

Among  the  more  strictly  socialist  groups  the  Blanquists 
were  distinguished  as  the  special  inheritors  of  the  revolu- 
tionary tradition.  They  preached  the  gospel  of  the  re- 
volutionary minority.  The  new  society  must  come  by 
the  initiative  of  a  bold,  well-disciplined  general  staff,  who 
would  place  themselves  at  the  head  of  the  sluggish  masses, 
snatch  victory  out  of  chaos,  and  proclaim  the  dictatorship 
of  the  proletariat.  Universal  suffrage  was  but  quackery, 
it  would  involve  reconciliation  with  bourgeois  society, 
compel  the  abdication  of  the  revolutionary  minority  who 
knew  their  own  mind,  in  favor  of  the  hopelessly  docile 
majority,  deluded  into  moderation  by  the  wiles  of  pi  * vilege 
and  the  blindness  of  ignorance;  the  majority  must  be 
saved  from  themselves.  Political  action  was  necessary, 
but  only  as  a  means  of  revolutionary  agitation,  of  organ- 
ization of  the  61ite.  Aft«.f  the  death  of  Blanqui,  and 
under  the  leadership  of  Vaillant  and  Sembat,  this  group, 
known  in  its  later  years  as  the  Revolutionary  Socialist 
party,  became  more  and  more  impregnated  with  Marxism 
and  closely  associated  with  the  Guesdist  I'artion.  This 
Guesdist  group,  the  French  Labor  party,  has  been  for 
a  generation  the  official  exponent  of  simon-nure  Marxian 
doctrine  in  France.  Jules  Guesde,  Communard  refugee, 
returning  to  Pans  in  1876  to  find  the  radical  working-class 
movement  still  feeling  the  sobering  effects  of  the  Versailles 
repression  of  the  Commure.  succeeded  by  persona!  pro- 
paganda, newspajwr  agitation,  and  the  advertisement  of 
IK)lice  prosecution  in  in(iucing  the  Labor  Congress  which 
met  at  Marseilles  in  1870  to  take  its  stand  on  a  coUectivist 


IT 


I  I. 


J. 


Ir-;^^VW  ■^, 


258 


SOCULISM 


PI  . 


platform  written  in  large  part  by  the  hand  of  Mrjx  himself. 
Shedding  the  eotiperative  elements  on  the  cue  hand  and 
the  anarchists  on  the  other,  the  new  part.y  declared  its 
faith  in  emancipation  by  political  action,  bul  action  of  the 
orthodox  negative  type.  Rigid  in  its  revolutionary  faith, 
looking  forward  to  the  expropriation  of  the  robber  rich  at 
one  fell  blow,  hostile  to  all  compromise  with  the  bourgeois 
state  or  bourgeois  parties,  guarding  against  heresies  by  a 
highly  centralized  organization,  the  Guesdist  party  has  long 
been  the  backbone  of  French  socialism.  Among  its  leaders 
it  has  counted  Guesde,  Lafargue,  the  son-in-law  of  Marx, 
Deville,  Delory,  and  Roussel.  Almost  at  the  outset  of  its 
career,  however,  its  all-or-nothing  tendencies  proved  in- 
supportable to  a  section  of  its  members  and  in  1882  the 
opportunist  element  drew  off  to  form  the  Federation  of 
Socialist  Workingmen,  more  briefly  designated  Possibilists, 
or,  from  their  leader,  Broussists.  The  Possibilists,  as  their 
name  implied,  bt-Iieved  in  attaining  the  collectivist  goal 
by  ;isy  stages,  reaping  along  the  march  what  results  were 
immediately  possible.  Foes  of  centralization,  they  laid 
stress  on  the  autoi  amy  of  the  commune  and  the  extension 
of  its  public  services.  Factionalism  had  not  yet  reached 
its  limit.  In  1891  a  split  took  place  in  the  Possibilisf 
party,  this  time  to  the  left  instead  of  to  the  right;  the  new 
group,  the  Revolutionary  Sot-ialist  Labor  party,  or  Alle- 
manists,  were,  however,  never  so  important  in  numerical 
force  as  in  the  fact  that  with  their  advocacy  of  the  gen- 
eral strike  they  foreshadowed  the  development  of  the  later 
anti-parliamentary  movement.  Finally,  at  the  extreme 
right  of  tlu'  movement  were  found  ui)holders  of  idealism 
like  Benott  Malon,  Rouanet,  Fourniere,  and  Rt^nard,  and 
at  a  later  staf,'e  a  group  of  iiidci)endent  socialists  which 
included  Jaures,  Milierand,  Viviani,  Briand,  and  G^rault- 
Ri<'hard,  men  of  Imiirgoois  aiitcredents,  of  practical 
cai)acity,  and  of  opportunist  leanings. 
The  clash  of  principle  between  these  shifting  groups  and 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT        «50 

the  drift  of  the  whole  movement  towards  parliamentarism 
may  be  gathered  sufficiently  by  stating  the  attitude  taken 
on  four  or  five  of  the  principal  questions  of  tactics  which 
have  arisen.   Late  in  the  eighties  the  spectre  of  General 
Boulanger  on  his  black  charger  came  to  trouble  France. 
Backed  by  monarchists,  clericals,  militarists,  he  threatened 
the  safety  of  the  republic.    Should  socialists  rally  to  the 
defense  of  the  republic,  or  leave  it  to  its  fate?  At  once  the 
Possibilists,and  members  of  the  unattached  Right,  such  as 
Malon  and  Rouanet,  pronounced  in  favor  of  alliance  with 
the  radical  forces  to  repel  reaction.  The  republic  and  the 
liberties  it  gave  must  l>e  saved,  or  future  progress  was 
blocked.  The  socialist  should  follov\  the  traditional  policy 
of  siding  with  the  middle  class  against  aristocracy.    Vot 
the  sake  of  the  republic  of  tiie  future,  the  party  should 
"  forget  for  an  instant  the  sixteen  years  during  which  the 
bourgeoisie  had  betrayed  the  hopes  of  the  people."  •   Not 
so  the  Guesdist  and  Blanquist  stalwarts.  The  true  socialist 
had  other  tasks  than  preserving  lM)urgeois  republics.  To 
him  the  struggle  was  merely  a  quarrel  l)etween  two  fac- 
tions of  the  master  class  for  the  privilege  of  picking  pro- 
letarian bones.   There  was  but  one  enemy,"  capitalist  feu- 
dalism, in  whose  interest  opportunist  and  radical  govern 
to-day,  in  whose  interest  Boulanger  would  govern  and 
flash  his  sabre  to-morrow."'   \Miilc,  therefore,  in  the  elec- 
tions  of  1889  the  Possibilists  threw  their  votes  to  the  joint 
radical  candidates,  the  Guesdists  and  Blanquists  set  up 
independent  candidates,  regardless  of  conse<juences. 

In  1889  the  combined  socialist  forces  polled  only  fifty 
thousand  votes.  Disunion  and  the  intransigeance  of  the 
majority  prevented  wide  success.  Yet  slowly  socialist 
deputies  were  filtering  into  the  ohamlwr,  and  slowly  the 
t.iste  of  parliamentary  success  brought  craving  for  more. 

>  Manifmfe  dr  la  Ffdhalinn  des  Tmr.iilleurt  goriaiisUs  de  France: 
Zihvt^a,  Le  Socialisme  en  France,  p.  408. 

'  Manijette  du  parti  outrier  franfai*    Z^ii<>8,  p.  <70. 


■     if 

;     If 

•      II 


it 

If 


i-i 


200 


SOCIAUSM 


1.« 


f  *. 


Even  the  Guesdists  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to 
angle  for  votes.  Following  the  Possibilist  lead  they  dnw 
up  in  1891  a  municipal  propraninie,  offering  frpe  nieiils, 
clothes,  and  shoes  for  school-children,  free  medical  and 
legal  advice,  an  eight-hour  day  on  municipal  (X)ntracts,  the 
abolition  of  the  octroi  tax  on  food-stuffs,  and  other  attract- 
ive "palliatives."  Victorj-  in  18W  in  Marseilles.  Toulon. 
Roubaix,  and  many  other  important  towns,  proved  the 
attractiveness  of  such  bait,  even  though  reaction  quickly 
followed  on  actual  experience  of  socialist  administration. 
Encouraged  by  this  step  in  opfiortunism,  the  Guesdists 
turned  to  the  peasant.  If  the  party  was  to  conquer  by  the 
ballot  a  majority  of  voters  niu.st  be  won,  and  in  France  no 
majority  could  lie  had  from  the  city  workers  alone.  Yet 
in  the  countrj-  the  prospects  for  a  campaign  on  strict 
revolutionary  prmciples  were  anything  but  encouraging. 
The  rural  proletariat,  the  workers  for  wage,  were  only  the 
minority  of  the  rural  population  and  in  large  part  proof 
against  discontent  by  the  very  hopelessness  of  their  lot.» 
The  peasant  proprietors  and  renters,  who  formed  the  bulk 
of  the  population,  were  hoi)eles.sly  individual  in  their 
mentality,  not  to  In?  seduced  from  the  little  farms  in  which 
their  very  personality  was  merged  by  the  mo.st  glowing 

«  The  leadinK  socialist  authority  on  agrarian  matters,  M.  Compere- 
Morel,  admits  the  failure  of  twenty  years  of  socialist  UKiUtion  to  reach 
this  element:  "The  rural  pn)letariiit  is  divided  into  two  very  distinct 
classes.  There  are  first  the  workers  who  live  elsewhert-  than  on  the  farm, 
with  their  little  coltaKP  an<l  comer  of  land.  These  are  the  sound  elements 
and  from  them  we  win  recruits.  But  the  other  class,  the  enslaved  domes- 
tics, the  ilrovers,  the  stahliv-lKivs,  the  shepherds  and  cowherds,  who  an- 
attached  to  the  farm  like  the  doi;  to  his  kennel,  these,  I  regret  to  .say, 
are  ho[H-les,sly  dull,  their  intellectual  level  is  extremely  low,  .  .  .  peupl.' 
incapable  of  any  mental  enjoyment,  soakt-d  in  ignorancv  and  in  alcohol, 
condemned  to  go  fr,>m  church  to  inn  and  from  inn  to  church  (loud  ap- 
plausi').  We  have  many  a  time  trie<l  to  win  these  farm  domestics  to  our 
ideas,  hut  with  what  F)ninful  results!  ('apifalLst  exploitation  has  made 
of  the  .semen  human  cattle."  —  /,r  noruilUme  et  Im  paymn*.  100«.  p  il. 

The  confession  is  a  tugni6caiit  comment  on  "the  worse  the  better" 
tactics. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       £61 

visions  of  the  huge  coilectivist  farms  of  the  future.  Om- 
trary  to  the  forecast,  they  were  not  disappearing  before 
the  competition  of  the  large  estate;  the  socialist  might 
declare  that  the  peasant  survived  only  by  unremitting 
toil  which  meant  slow  suicide,  or  that  the  exploitation  by 
the  middleman  and  the  mortgagee  made  his  independence 
illusory;  the  fact  remained  that  the  peasant  was  neither 
to  be  forced  out  by  economic  evolution  nor  to  be  drawn 
out  by  socialist  persuasion.    Yet  his  vote  must  be  had. 
Principles  had  to  give  way  to  tactics.  At  the  Congress  of 
Marseilles  in  1892  a  programme  was  drawn  up  demanding 
for  the  day-workers  a  minimum  wage  and  pension  funds, 
for  the  renters  a  fair  rent  commission  and  the  Ulster  right; 
for  the  peasant  proprietors  communal  provision  of  machin- 
ery and  fertilizers,  free  instruction  in  agriculture  and 
experimental  farms.  It  was  undeniable  that  these  reforms 
were  largely  imitated  from  bourgeois  party  programmes, 
and  that,  if  secured,  they  would  strengthen  individual 
property-rights.   It  was  vain  for  socialist  apologists  to 
declare  that  their  belief  in  the  eventual  disappearance  of 
the  small  farmer  did  not  compel  them  to  hasten  the  pro- 
cess; true,  but  it  forbade  their  blocking  and  staying  that 
process,  preserving  a  form  of  production  which  in  many 
cases  might  not  indeed  involve  exploitation  of  any  but  the 
farmer  himself,  but  which  in  socialist  theory  was  unsocial 
and  economically  backward     The  orthodox  socialist  atti- 
tude toward  this  falling  from  grace  is  clearly  evidenced  by 
the  overwhelming  rejection  by  the  German  party  in  1895 
of  similar  proposals,  and  by  the  express  denunciation  of 
Engels. ' 

'  "The  development  of  capit.-ili.'ini  is  (Icstroying  the  small  landed 
property  beyond  hoiH-  of  re«lemplii)n.  Our  party  is  elear  on  that  point; 
it  is  nol,  however,  i'ulle<l  on  to  hasten  the  pnxTss  by  ilsown  efforts.  There 
w  no  objection  to  \>c  made  on  the  ground  of  principle  to  prop<>rly  rhosen 
means  «>f  making  this  inevitiible  ruin  less  burdensomu  for  the  peasants, 
but  if  you  do  anything  further,  if  your  aim  is  to  uphold  the  peasant  per- 
manently,  then  in  my  opinion  you  arc  striving  for  what  is  ecoDumically 


if-  ,  L 
'it 


ih.^ 


i»: 


262 


SOCIAUSM 


This  taking  agrarian  programme,  the  Panama  scandals, 
the  newspaper  activities  of  Millerand  and  the  campaigning 
of  Jaur^s  and  other  recent  recruits  coiiperated  to  secure 
unprecedented  success  in  the  elections  of  1893.  Fifty 
socialist  deputies  of  various  hues  were  returned.  The  efiFect 
of  this  success  in  abating  revolutionary  zeal  was  counter- 
acted for  some  time  by  the  lack  of  temptation  from  the 
bourgeois  side.  One  Right  Centre  ministry  after  another, 
the  Dupuy,  Casimir-P^rier,  Ribot,  and  M61ine  administra- 
tions, took  up  a  position  of  distinct  hostility  to  the  social- 
ists: only  in  the  brief  administration  of  Leon  Bourgeois 
was  opportunity  given  for  cooperation.  It  was  not  until 
1897  that  the  next  crucial  issue  was  raised,  when  Zola's 
famous  J' accuse  letter  in  defense  of  Dreyfus  appeared,  and 
the  strife  over  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  the  accused  Jewish 
army  captain  widened  into  a  conflict  between  the  pro- 
gressive and  the  reactionary  forces  for  mastery  of  the 
state.  The  situation  facing  the  socialist  party  was  much 
the  same  as  in  the  Boulanger  case,  and  the  same  division 
of  opinion  reappeared. 

To  the  militant  class-conscious  Guesdist  or  Blanquist 

the  only  possible  attitude  was  rigid  abstention.  What  had 

the  socialist  to  do  with  a  struggle  between  rival  capitalist 

t  jictions,  lietween  clerical  and  Jew,  rivals  of  a  day,  glutton- 

•us  guests  who  quarreled  at  the  banquet  ?  His  part  must  he 

)  press  home  the  lesson  of  the  disgraceful  aflFair,  to  prove 

)urgeois  bankruptcy,  to  turn  against  the  social  order  tlie 
scandals  of  this  military  Panama  as  they  had  utilized 
the  financial  Panama.  Must  the  proletariat  forget  the  in- 
iquities of  which  they  were  thedaily  victims,  the  monstrous 
injuries  wrought  day  in  and  day  out  against  their  own 


impossible,  you  are  sarrifirinff  principles  and  beoominR  reactionary.  .  . 
1 1  <i>njocturo(l|  that  our  French  friends  would  .stanil  alone  in  the  .so<iiili>t 
world  in    their  attempt  to  buttress  up  forever    not  merely  the  smi»ll 
peasiant  proprietor  but  also  the  smull  renter  who  exploits  other  workert." 
—  Engeb.  cited  in  Protokoll,  Frankfort,  1894.  p.  151,  n. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       SOS 


wives  and  children,  and  the  moment  that  a  staff  captun, 
a  rich  man  who  had  of  his  own  free  will  chosen  the  worst 
of  careers,  is  served  with  his  own  class  justice,  abandon 
all  to  rush  to  his  defense?  The  socialist  party  could  not 
turn  aside  to  save  an  individual  victim;  it  had  a  class  to 
save,  humanity  to  save.' 

To  the  men  of  the  Right,  these  tactics  appeared  un- 
worthy of  the  party  and  the  crisis.  If  to  Guesde  all  ideals 
wrought  out  before  the  year  One  of  the  Marxian  era  were  of 
little  importance,  to  Jaures  the  conception  of  socialism  as 
merely  the  latest  stage  in  the  long  evolution  of  democracy 
was  ever  present.    If  the  bourgeois  state  had  proved  its 
moral  bankruptcy,  press  that  truth  home,  but  snatch  for 
the  socialists  the  honor  of  defending  the  liberty  and  just- 
ice the  bourgeois  parties  could  no  longer  protect.   It  was 
not  the  rehabilitation  of  an  individual  that  was  at  stake, 
but  the  preservation  of  the  republic.    It  was  impossible 
to  lump  all  the  anti-sooialist  forces  together  as  equally  re- 
actionary.    "True,"  declared  Jaures,  "society  to-day   is 
divided  into  capitalists  and  proletarians,  but  at  the  same 
time  it  is  menaced  by  the  aggressive  revival  of  all  the 
forces  of  the  past,  of  feudal  barbarism,  of  the  whole  power 
of  the  church,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  socialists,  when  the 
liberty  of  the  republic  is  in  danger,  when  intellectual  liberty 
is  in  jeopardy,  when  freedom  of  con.science  is  threatened, 
when  the  old  prejudices  are  being  resurrected  which  revive 
once  more  the  race  hatreds  and  the  atrocious  religious 
feuds  of  the  centuries  that  are  gone,  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
socialist  proletariat  to  march  shoulder  to  shoulder  with 
that  section  of  the  bourgeoisie  which  has  no  wish  to  revert 
to  the  past."  ^ 
The  sequel  of  the  Dreyfus  case  and  of  the  manful  service 

the  Jaures  section  performed  was  the  famous  Millerand 

'  Cf.  Lm  Deux  MHhnden.  Confercnoe  par  Jaures  el  Guesde,  Lillc,  1900; 
and  Declaration  dn  parti  ouvricr  franqais,  1898,  in  Zeva^  op.  cit,  p.  286. 
'  Let  Deux  Mithodea,  p.  i. 


4 

-i 
f 


I 

P 

I  ' 
if 


5  i 

i 

J 

'.s 


it 


m 


."*?•.■ 


m' 


864 


SOCUUSM 


dispute.*  If  a  socialist  party  might  champion  the  radical 
republic,  why  should  not  a  socialist  accept  the  reward  of 
a  post  in  the  radical  ministry?  Millerand's  action  in  1809 
in  taking  the  portfolio  of  G>mmerce  in  the  Waldeck- 
Rousseau  ministry  of  republican  defense  was  the  logical 
next  step  in  the  opportunist  path.  If  the  socialists  had 
power,  why  shirk  responsibility?  True,  they  must  act  as 
a  revolutionary  class  party,  never  forgetting  the  final  goal, 
but  they  could  not  act  in  a  vacuum;  they  must  penetrate 
every  fissure  of  bourgeois  society,  must  participate  in 
administration,  must  show  they  could  manage  affairs  iis 
well  as  make  fine  speeches,  must  lay  in  the  present  the 
foundations  of  the  future  state.  The  presence  of  a  socialist 
in  the  ministry,  the  members  of  the  Right  wing  contended, 
was  a  striking  testimony  to  the  progress  of  socialism  and 
a  pledge  of  progressive  action.  Guesde  and  Vaillant,  how- 
ever, while  admitting  the  offer  of  a  post  was  an  unwilling; 
compliment  to  .socialist  power,  held  that  its  acceptance  was 
a  scandalous  desertion  of  the  principles  of  class  war.  The 
socialist  heaven  could  not  be  entered  until  after  the  judg- 
ment day  of  capitalism.*  The  socialist  whose  aim  was 
social  revolution  could  not  share  power  with  the  bourgeois 
whose  aim  was  social  conservation.  And  would  power 
really  be  sharetl  ?  A  single  .socialist  in  the  capitalist  min- 
istry would  be  only  a  dupe,  a  hostage;  his  entry  would 
no  more  signify  the  overthrow  of  capitalism  than  the  entry 
of  a  Protestant  into  the  College  of  Cardinals  would  have 
meant  the  triumj)h  of  the  Reformation.  To  make  matters 
worse.  His  Excellency  Comrade  Millerand  sat  cheek  by 
jowl  in  the  cabinet  nith  Gallifet,  queller  of  the  Commune; 
in  his  official  capacity  he  welcomed  to  Paris  the  Czar, 

'  "It  is  Ix-c-ause  the  pn)|ptariat  played  a  decisive  rftle  in  this  nrvni 
social  drama  that  the  direct  partiripatiim  of  a  iux-ialist  in  a  bourjjeois 
cabinet  has  t)een  made  possible."  —  Leu  Deux  Af.'lhntle^,  p.  5. 

'  "Then-  is  nothing  changed  and  can  be  nothing;  ehanKe<J  in  the 
existing  ord(>r  so  long  as  capitalist  property  haa  Dot  t)eea  abolinbed." 
— Guesde,  ibid.,  p.  14. 


THE  MODERN  SOCUUST  MOVEMENT        865 


red  with  the  blood  of  Russian  revolutionaries;  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  cabinet  he  upheld  rigorous  armed  repression 
of  strikes.    Bad  Ie<l  to  worse. 

At  the  height  of  the  discussion  in  1900,  the  International 
Sociahst  Congress  met  in  Paris.  It  endeavored  to  heal  the 
differences  between  the  warring  factions  and  to  decide 
authoritatively  on  the  tactics  involved.  A  compromise 
resolution,  moved  by  Kautsky,  was  passe:!,  declaring  that 
"the  entry  of  a  socialist  into  a  bourgeois  government 
could  be  considered  only  a  forced,  temporary,  and  excep- 
tional expedient."  Jaures  accepted  the  resolution,  but 
Guesde  and  Vaillant  held  out  for  a  more  thoroughgoing 
rejmdiation  of  the  jjolicy  of  ministeriallsm.  The  attempt  to 
bring  about  union  failed,  but  a  partial  cessation  of  the 
factional  struggle  came  with  the  welding  of  all  the  scat- 
tered forces  into  two  large  groups,  the  French  Socialist 
Party,  comprising  the  Broussists,  AUemanists,  and  Inde- 
pendent Socialists,  and  the  Socialist  Party  of  France,  made 
up  of  the  Guesdists,  Blanquists.  and  various  minor  frac- 
tions. 

After  the  Millerand  iiortfolio,  the  (\)inl)es  bloc.  The 
\Val(le<"k-Rousseau  ministry  had  warde<l  off  the  attack  of 
the  forces  of  reaction.  The  Coml>es  ministry',  which  fol- 
lowed, carried  the  war  into  Africa  by  striking  at  the  sources 
of  clerical  influence,  dissolving  monastic  congregations, 
and  secularizing  education,  with  separation  of  church  and 
state  looming  up  in  the  distance.  The  new  cabinet  rested 
on  a  bloc  of  the  parties  of  the  I^eft,  Ministerial  Republicans, 
Radicals,  S«K'ialist  Radicals,  and  Socialists.  Not  only  did 
the  Socialists  lend  the  government  their  votes:  Jaures 
guided  and  inspired  their  policy,  playing  Pere  Joseph  to 
M.  Comlws'  Richelieu.  Again  the  revolutionary  vsnng 
l)ecHmc  alarmed  at  the  pace:  Jaures'  support  of  the  cabi- 
net was  alleged  to  Ix?  too  systematic  and  unquestioning,  the 
inclusion  of  delegates  of  the  French  Socialist  Party  in  a 
committee  of  all  the  ministerial  groups  was  held  to  merge 


I 
I 
I 


-:r 


M 


M0 


SOCIALISM 


l-«S' 


that  party  in  the  democratic  mum.  Yet  the  Guesdists  and 
Blanquists  thenifielves,  if  halting  short  of  the  opportunist 
extremes  of  the  Jaur^a  faction,  gave  the  ministry  unswerv- 
ing support  at  every  critical  vote,  capping  the  climax  by 
supporting  a  resolution  of  which  a  sectititi  specifically 
repudiated  collectivism,  because  it  was  regarded  as  a  mo- 
tion of  confidence  in  the  government.'  Such  differences 
as  existed  betwct-n  the  two  factions  furnished  the  theme 
for  a  full-dress  debate  on  tactics  at  the  next  International 
Congress,  held  at  Amsterdam  in  1904.  In  spite  of  Jaur^s' 
impassioned  defense  and  his  audacious  arraignniont  of  the 
helpless  sterility  of  German  socialism  as  more  diiiigerous  to 
the  common  cause  than  French  opportunism,  the  major- 
ity sided  with  Belx?!  and  Gucsde  in  re- voting  the  Dresden 
resolution  of  1903,  which  condemned  revisionist  tenden- 
cies toward  reconciliation.  It  was  significant,  however, 
that  most  of  the  delegations  which  had  free  parliamentary 
institutions  and  i)rospect  ^  of  success  themselves  voted 
against  the  attempt  to  force  on  France  a  policy  framed  for 
less  favorable  conditions.* 

•  Cf.  the  contemporary  testimony  of  Marcel  Sembat.  a  leading  Dlan- 
quUt:  "Is  the  difference  in  attitude  between  the  two  parliamentary 
groups  really  so  profound?  We  of  the  revolutionary  (MK-ialist  i^roxip  hax^ 
always  desired  to  show  that  we  were  not  ministerialistn  by  tu-ttUnl  deter- 
mination, and  to  give  our  votes  to  the  government  only  whi-n  it  meritcil 
them.  But  in  fact,  especially  since  the  Russo-Japanese  war,  it  is  undeni- 
able that  we  have  systematically  sustained  the  ministry.  If  we  were  as 
impartial  as  we  profess,  would  we  not,  when  the  ministry  was  attacked, 
wait  to  learn  whether  it  was  right  before  exprt>ssing  our  approval?  Now 
in  case  of  attack  upon  it,  you  see  us  in  the  front  rank  shouting  in  a  wny 
to  drown  the  voices  of  the  most  hardened  ministerialists  in  the  parlia- 
mentary socialist  group." — "Petite  Republique,"  Nov.  8,  19W,  in  Mil- 
haud.  La  Tarlique  Sorialistf,  ii.  p.  142. 

*  The  Adler-Vandervelde  amendment,  affirming  the  class  struggle 
tactics,  but  refraining  from  condemning  Jniir^s'  policy  as  an  infringe- 
ment of  those  tactics,  was  supported  by  41  votes:  Great  Britain  2,  Argen- 
tina 4,  Austria  4,  Belgium  4,  British  Colonies  4,  Denmark  4,  France  1, 
Holland  4,  Norway  1,  Poland  1,  Swe<len  4,  Switzerland  4:  and  oppos«il 
by  41  votes,  Germany  4.  Bohemia  4,  Bulgaria  4,  Spain  4,  United  .States 
i.  France  1,  Hungary  4,  Italy  4,  Japan  4,  Norway  1,  Poland  1,  Russia  4. 


*  ■:i 


■ff ' 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       t67 


To  excommunication  by  this  latter-day  church  council 
was  addutl  rebuff  by  Jaurcs'  democratic  allies.  The  more 
moderate  elements  of  the  bloc,  wearyintj  of  their  impetu- 
ous colleagues,  turned  to  the  Right  for  support;  the  Rouvier 
and  Clemenceau  cabinets  which  followed  made  no  bid  for 
socialist  votes.    For  the  present  a  policy  of  opportunism 
was  out  of  the  question.   The  way  was  clear  for  union  of 
the  warring  factions,  and  in  1905  the  Guesde  and  JaurAs 
forces  joined  to  form  the  United  Socialist  Party.    Many 
members  of  tlie  French  Socialist  Party  were  unwilling  to 
follow  Jaurcs  in  the  concessions  made  for  harmony's  sake, 
and  carried  on  their  own  organization.  From  the  ranks  of 
the  latter  group  there  have  come  in  recent  years  two  cabi- 
net ministers,  Viviani  and  Millerand,  and  even  a  premier 
in  Aristide  Briand.  Needless  to  say,  the  Briand  who  makes 
his  platform  social  solidarity  and  cessation  from  factional 
struggle  is  so  far  from  the  Briand  who  was  once  the  most 
leckless  advocate  of  the  general  strike  that  his  erstwhile 
comrades  of  the  United  Socialists  refuse  to  recognize  him. 
But  meantime  these  shifts  of  parliamentary  tactics  were 
losing  their  irnixirtanre.    The  whole  [>olitical  movement 
was  l)eing  overshadowed  by  the  growth  of  a  new  revolu- 
tionary economic  organization,  independent  of  both  wings 
of  the  party,  reformist  or  revolutionary,  and  competing 
with  them  for  proletarian  favor.  Syndicalism,  or  the  new 
unionism,  is  the  most  characteristic  contribution  made  by 
France  to  the  revolutionary  working-class  movement.  Its 
creed,  in  brief,  is  that  the  working  class  must  work  out  its 
own  salvation,  by  its  own  organs,  by  direct  and  not  by 
deputed  action,  and  that  the  sifndicat  or  labor  union,  chief 
of  these  organs,  is  to  be  reganlcd  not  merely  as  an  instru- 
ment for  securing  partial  alleviations  of  the  existing  cap- 
italist system  or  as  a  recruiting-ground  for  so<  ialist  parties. 

The  amendment  failing  a  majority,  the  Drewten  re-tolution  was  passed  by 
45  votes  to  3,  with  It  ahslcalMna.  —  I'rolokoU,  Amsterdam,  p.  49;  and 
Milhaud.  op.  cit.,  p.  168. 


If 


^'<^ 


MICROCOPY   RESOIUTION   TEST   CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


1.0 


1^1  2^ 
JT     13.6 


2.5 
Z2 

1.8 


A  -APPLIED  IN/MGE     I 

^^  1653    East    Main   Slretl 

B'jS  Rochester,    Ne*   rcrk        14609       USA 

'•^  (?I6)    *82  -  OJOO  -  Phone 

^S  ("6)  288  -  5989  -  Fa« 


1  * 

II 


268 


SOCIALISM 


H\ 


''    ;38 


i 


*m 


\:  I 


but  as  itself  the  instrument  of  revolution  and  the  cell  of 
the  future  social  organism. 

The  rapid  growth  of  syndicalist  doctrines  in  France  may 
be  attributed  to  several  causes.  Primary  is  the  numerical 
and  especially  the  pecuniary  weakness  of  French  labor 
unions,  disposing  to  more  radical  action  than  would  be 
acceptable  to  the  strong  German  or  English  organizations. 
The  reaction  against  parliamentary  opportunism,  the 
feeling  that  a  handful  of  deputies,  chiefly  of  middle-class 
origin  and  habits  of  thought,  could  not  adequately  represent 
working-class  demands,  turned  this  radicalism  from  the 
political  channel.  The  anti-parliamentary  agitation  of 
the  anarchists,  who  began  in  the  nineties  to  burrow  in  the 
unions,  confirmed  the  tendency.  Able  leaders  rose  to  give 
the  new  movement  shape  and  guidance:  Pelloutier,  the 
most  original  and  striking  figure  in  the  early  days  of  the 
movement,  Pouget,  Griffuelhes,  Delesalle,  Yvetot,  and 
others  in  later  years.  A  group  of  bourgeois  intellectuals, 
including  Georges  Sorel,  the  subtle  critic  of  Marxism, 
Hubert  Lagardelle,  and  Edouard  Berth  in  France,  with 
Robert  Michels  in  Germany  and  Arturo  Labriola  and 
Enrico  Leone  in  Italy,  have  given  notable  service  in  sys- 
tematic and  clarifying  exposition.^ 

The  organization  in  which  the  doctrines  of  syndicalism 
are  embodied,  the  Confederation  G^nerale  du  Travail,  or 
C.  G.  T.,  is  the  outcome  of  a  long  and  checkered  develop- 
ment. The  first  national  Federation  of  Trade  Unions,  which 
came  under  Guesdist  control  in  1879,  was  kept  in  strict  sub- 
ordination to  the  party.  It  never  manifested  much  inde- 
pendent vitality  and  passed  away  in  1895.  In  that  year  the 
C.  G.  T.  was  organized,  largely  under  Blanquist  inspu-a- 

*  These  intellectuals  hasten,  however,  to  affirm  that  they  are  not  in 
any  way  responsible  for  the  development  of  the  movement.  "Revolu- 
tionary syndicalism  is  the  peculiar  and  original  creation  of  the  French 
working  class;  ...  if  we  have  had  a  rdlc,  it  has  been  simply  the  r6Ie 
of  interpreters,  translators,  glossarists;  we  have  served  as  spokesmen, 
nothing  more." — Edouard  Berth,  Le  mouvement  socialUte.no.  198, p.  390. 


•.'i!HA 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       269 


tion.  Meantime  the  establishment  in  1886  of  the  Paris 
Labor  Exchange  and  of  similar  institutions  in  other  cities 
in  J  apid  succession  provided  the  nucleus  for  a  new  organ- 
ization. The  labor  exchanges,  established  to  provide  a 
permanent  meeting-place  for  the  city's  workers,  to  serve 
as  a  centre  of  labor  activity  and  education,  and  aid  in 
coordinating  the  demand  and  supply  of  labor,  soon  became 
the  headquarters  of  revolutionary  propaganda.  A  fed- 
eration of  labor  exchanges  was  formed  in  1892,  and  in- 
corporated ten  years  later  in  the  C.  G.  T.  The  latter  body, 
which  thus  became  the  undisputed  central  organization 
of  French  trade  unionism,  consists  of  two  autonomous 
sections.  In  each  the  unit  is  the  local  trade,  or  rather  the 
industrial,  union.  Locally,  the  unions  of  all  industries  are 
grouped  in  the  labor  exchanges,  and  these  organizations, 
again,  unite  to  form  the  Federation  of  Labor  Exchanges, 
one  of  the  main  sections  of  the  central  body.  Profession- 
ally, the  unions  are  grouped  in  national  federations,  which, 
again,  unite  to  form  the  second  division  of  the  C.  G.  T., 
the  section  of  the  Industrial  and  Trade  Federations.  The 
two  sections  comprise  probably  half  of  the  million  union 
men  in  France. 

What  syndicalism  stands  for,  may  be  most  clearly  seen 
by  noting  the  points  which  diflFerentiate  it  from  other 
movements  more  or  less  akin.  It  diflFers  from  pure  and 
simple  trade  unionism  in  its  revolutionary  aim  and  in  its 
adherence  to  the  class-struggle  doctrine,  from  anarchism  in 
its  exclusively  proletarian  appeal  and  its  stress  on  con- 
'ructive  measures,  and  from  orthodox  socialism  in  its 
distrust  of  political  action  and  counter-emphasis  on  purely 
proletarian  weapons  and  institutions.* 

Syndicalism  differs  from  trade  unionism  of  the  classic 

English  type  in  aim,  in  method,  and  in  spirit.   Its  aim  is 

revolutionary.  Nothing  less  than  the  complete  overthrow 

of  the  capitalist  system  will  content  it.  Partial  ameliora- 

'  Cf.  Lagardelle,  Le  mouvement  tociiditte,  no.  199,  p.  426. 


11 
II 


WO 


SOCIALISM 


\l 


tions  of  the  wage-earners'  lot  may  be  accepted,  must  in 
fact  be  demanded,  but  all  the  time  with  a  clear  conscious- 
ness that  no  concession  which  it  is  in  the  power  of  the 
capitalist  to  grant  can  meet  their  just  and  full  demand. 
The  interests  of  bourgeois  and  proletarian  are  irreconcil- 
able and  class  war  is  the  only  possible  means  of  settle- 
ment. In  method  the  difference  is  equally  vital.  The  syn- 
dicalist does  not  put  his  trust  in  well-filled  war-chests.  It 
is  part  of  his  creed  that  a  union  fights  best  on  a  lean  treas- 
ury. The  difference  in  spirit  may  be  illustrated  by  a 
rather  rh-^torical  passage  in  which  M.  Griffuelhes  contrasts 
French  and  German  unionism:  — 

What  characterizes  the  French  workman  is  his  audacity  and 
independence.  Nothing  daunts  him.  He  is  above  all  authority, 
all  respect,  all  hierarchies.  When  a  command  is  given  by  the 
powers  that  be,  while  the  first  instinct  of  the  German  workman 
is  to  obey,  the  first  instinct  of  the  French  workman  is  to  rebt'l. 
.  .  .  And  if  one  stops  to  consider  what  action  involves,  the 
superiority  of  French  decisiveness  and  initiative  over  German 
prudence  and  sluggishness  is  manifest.  Reflect  too  much  and 
one  never  undertakes  anything.  One  must  go  ahead,  let  him- 
self be  borne  on  by  his  own  impetus,  trusting  only  to  himself, 
and  reflecting  that  it  is  not  for  us  to  adapt  ourselves  to  the  law 
but  for  the  law  to  adapt  itself  to  our  will.  .  .  .  The  originality 
of  French  syndicalism  lies  in  the  fact  that  its  only  policy  is 
action.^ 

With  anarchism,  the  new  movement  has  much  in  com- 
mon, so  much  so  that  socialist  critics  insist  that  syndical- 
ism is  only  anarchism  in  disguise.  In  their  opposition  to 
the  state,  to  political  action,  to  militarism,  both  move- 
ments seem  at  one.  But,  it  is  claimed  by  the  exponents 
of  syndicalism,  the  resemblances  are  only  superficial,  the 
differences  fundamental.  Anarchism  is  a  survival  of 
eighteenth-century  individualism  and  cntimentalism, 
syndicalism  a  forerunner  of  twentieth-century  cooperation 

*  Syndicalisme  et  socialisme,  p.  57. 


"i^^tlX  f^ 


«■-      -  —%■• 


->•?.-■- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       271 

and  scientific  matter-of-factness.  Anarchism  makes  its 
appeal  to  all  humanity,  syndicalism  to  the  proletarian 
alone.  Anarchism,  reactionary  at  bottom,  can  see  no  good 
in  capitahsm  or  any  of  its  works;  syndicalism  thanks  it  for 
preparing  the  material  equipment  and  the  spirit  of  co- 
operation essential  for  the  society  of  the  future.  Anarch- 
ism makes  the  individual  the  unit,  syndicalism  the  union. 
Even  in  their  anti-militarism  they  wear  their  rue  with  a 
difiference,  anarchism  being  actuated  by  humanitarian 
motives,  syndicalism  by  opposition  to  the  use  of  the  army 
in  suppressing  industrial  outbreaks.' 

Between  syndicalism  and  socialism  one  would  expect  to 
find  more  harmony.  Both  profess  to  be  based  on  the  class 
struggle;  both  profess  to  be  aiming  at  the  same  goal,  the 
collective  ownership  of  industry.  Yet  the  syndicalists 
obstinately  decline  to  accept  either  the  leadership  or  the 
cooperation  of  the  Socialist  party.  It  is  a  tantali/'ng 
situation;  the  hosts  of  the  workers  are  marshaling  under 
socialist  b  v.ners  and  marching  to  a  socialist  goal,  all  as 
per  programme,  but  they  ungratefully  refuse  to  accept  the 
leaders  predestined  for  their  guidance  or  to  follow  in 
the  paths  thought  out  for  their  progress.  Guesde  planted, 
and  Jaures  watered,  but  Pouget  and  Griffuelhes  reap  the 
increase. 

The  syndicalist  critic,  making  his  attack  from  the  op- 
posite quarter  to  that  from  which  the  revisionist  fire  is 
directed,  charges  that  orthodox  socialism  is  played  out. 
As  a  doctrine,  it  has  become  either,  as  in  France,  merely 
a  variant  of  the  prevailing  creed  of  solidarity,  or,  as  in 
Germany,  a  meaningless  and  hair-splitting  commentary 
on  a  few  ambiguous  odds  and  ends  of  phrases  let  fall  by 
Marx.  As  a  movement,  it  has  become  sluggish,  colorless, 
correct,  a  bourgeois  radicalism  of  a  slightly  more  ad- 
vanced type.  The  old  fire  aas  gone.  Responsibility  for 
this  parlous  condition  is  placed  on  its  adherence  to 
*  Cf.  Berth,  op.  cit.,  p.  32;  Lagardclle,  op.  cit.,  p.  431. 


Si 


Jl 


■lis 


^^^^i\rM^m:<^^''<^'}^i^  '':^^--y&--^Mi;r^^:;^m  v^^^  %^ 


■■:*:-'ft* 


\'.  '«KI'- 


272 


SOCIALISM 


,',   *^' 


parliamentary  tactics,  its  transformation  into  a  political 
party.  ^ 

While  it  was  the  entrance  of  Millerand  into  a  bourgeois 
cabinet  that  first  awakened  widespread  discontent  among 
the  militant  spirits  of  the  labor  exchanges,  distrust  of 
ministerial  participation  soon  developed  into  distrust  of  po- 
litical action.  This  distrust  was  directed  against  Guesde 
as  well  as  against  Jaures.  Right  wing  and  Left  wing  might 
differ  on  the  minor  question  of  tactics,  piecemeal  or  com- 
plete capture  of  power,  but  both  agreed  that  the  ballot  was 
the  socialist's  best  weapon.  Of  the  two  sections  the  Guesd- 
ist  was  the  more  uncompromisingly  parliamentarian;  it 
was  the  congress  of  the  French  Labor  party,  at  Lille, 
which  declared  that  it  considered  as  socialists  "none  but 
those  who,  relying  on  the  socialist  group  in  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies,  seek  the  abolition  of  the  capitalist  regime  by 
meansof  the  conquest  of  political  power  by  the  proletariat." 
The  policy  of  political  penetration  had  made  little  change 
in  the  lot  of  the  workers;  particularly  it  had  done  nothing 
to  develop  and  train  their  capacities  and  fit  them  for  their 
part  in  the  socialist  commonwealth,  had  produced  no 
alteration  in  the  character  of  the  state.  And  what  was  true 
of  the  fragmentary  conquest  of  state  power  by  a  few 
socialists,  the  deduction  ran,  was  equally  true  of  the  com- 
plete conquest  by  the  whole  Socialist  party:  "When 
Augustus  had  supped,  it  may  be  that  Poland  was  drunk; 
but  whether  a  few  socialists  become  ministers  or  all  the 
ministers  are  socialists,  the  workingmen  remain  none  the 
less  workingmen."^ 

Discontent  soon  voiced  itself  in  action.  Without  at- 
tempting to  follow  all  the  battles  and  skirmishes  between 
the  adherents  and  the  opponents  of  alliance  between  the 
Socialist  party  and  the  syndicalist  forces,  it  may  suffice 
to  quote  the  concluding  clauses  of  the  resolution  of  neu- 

•  Arturo  Labriola,  Syndicalisme  et  socialisme,  p.  11. 

*  Lagardelle,  Le  mouvement  aocidUte,  no.  199,  p.  429. 


-f.-^f-r-J^y^^^^E\     y. 


■-x-i'    i:^k?i-^^^<^'' 


Vfi'i^^ 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAIJST  MOVEMENT       278 

trality  adopted  by  the  C.  G.  T.  at  the  Congress  of  Amiens 
in  1906  and  resolutely  adhered  to  since:  — 

So  far  as  the  individual  is  concerned,  the  Congress  affirms  that 
the  member  of  a  union  is  entirely  at  liberty  to  participate,  out- 
side the  union,  in  whatever  movements  correspond  to  his  phil- 
osophical or  political  beliefs,  limiting  itself  to  ask  in  return  that 
he  should  not  introduce  within  the  union  the  opinions  he  pro- 
fesses beyond  its  confines.  So  far  as  the  organization  is  con- 
cerned, the  Congress  declares  that,  in  order  that  syndicalism  may 
attain  its  maximum  effect,  its  economic  action  should  be  carried 
on  directly  against  the  employer,  the  federated  organizations 
having,  as  labor  organizations,  nothing  to  do  with  parties  and 
sects,  which,  outside  its  sphere,  are  entirely  at  liberty  to  seek 
the  transformation  of  society."' 

The  refusal  of  syndicalism  to  ally  itself  with  parliament- 
ary socialism  is  based,  negatively,  on  its  belief  in  the  essen- 
tially faulty  position  of  the  latter,  and  positively,  on  its 
belief  in  its  own  self-sufficiency.  The  indictment  it  brings 
against  the  Socialist  party  is  that  it  is  based  on  a  miscon- 
ception of  the  class  struggle.  Party  struggle  is  not  class 
struggle.  The  party  is  bound  together  by  identity  of 
opinion,  the  class  by  identity  of  interests.  The  party  is  an 
artificial  grouping  of  men  of  all  classes  united  by  a  tem- 
porary agreement;  the  class  is  an  organic  division  of  men 
subjected  to  the  same  economic  influences,  living  and 
working  on  the  same  plane  of  material  interest.  This  mis- 
conception has  fatal  results  on  the  composition  both  of 
the  rank  and  file  and  of  the  leaders  of  the  party.  The  rank 
and  file  are  recruited  from  every  region  of  discontent;  the 
party  is  committed  to  the  defense  of  every  doomed  and 
decaying  fraction  of  the  petty  bourgeoisie  which  is  suffer- 
ing from  the  onward  and  inevitable  march  of  industrial 
progress;  its  action  is  clogged  and  hampered  by  the 
necessity  of  catering;  to  the  largest  possible  vote.  The 
leaders  more  and  more  are  drawn  from  the  bourgeois 

I  Compte  rendu  du  xv'  congrea  national  corporatif,  p.  171. 


;-4 

ii 


'■#i 


■S  i-V'  •  V-if-:  A-.  is-.«:.'V- 


f 


t74 


SOCIAUSM 


;J- 


"  intellectuals,"  some  led  into  the  socialist  ranks  by  honest 
conviction,  some  seeking  the  loaves  and  fishes,  seats  in 
parliament,  or  editorship  of  party  organs  —  the  camp- 
followers  whom  Marx  denounced  as  "lawyers  without 
clients,  doctors  without  patients  and  without  learning, 
students  of  billiards."  Whatever  their  motive  be,  self- 
sacrificing  or  self-seeking,  they  are  in  either  case  hoix*- 
lessly  out  of  touch  with  proletarian  thought  and  life. 
Fatal,  again,  to  the  integrity  of  socialist  doctrine,  is  the 
changed  attitude  toward  the  state  which  results  from 
parliamentary  action.  Instead  of  becoming  less  and  less, 
the  state  becomes  more  and  more;  it  is  rashly  hoped  that 
a  mere  change  in  government  personnel  will  suflBce  for 
redemption.  The  attempt  is  made  to  realize  socialism  in 
the  framework  of  the  existing  state.  And  meantime  the 
workers  are  assigned  merely  the  passive  r61e  of  casting  a 
ballot  once  in  four  years.  No  attempt  is  made  here  and 
now  to  build  up  the  economic  institutions  which  are  to 
control  the  society  of  the  future,  or  to  train  the  workers 
for  the  new  and  greater  part  they  are  to  play.^ 

Syndicalism  is  not  content  with  negative  criticism;  it 
has  a  positive  constructive  policy  to  offer.  It  adopts  the 
old  war-cry  of  the  International,  "The  emancipation  of 
the  workers  must  be  wrought  by  the  workers  themselves," 
and  gives  it  new  meaning.  In  every  class  struggle  in  the 
past,  it  is  contended,  the  revolutionary  class  has  created 
its  own  organs  of  emancipation.  In  the  battle  against 
feudal  privilege  the  middle  class  conquered,  not  by  pene- 
trating and  controlling  the  distinctively  aristocratic  in- 
stitutions, but  by  creating  new  institutions,  free  towns  and 
parliaments,  and  thus  building  up  the  framework  of  a  new 
bourgeois  society  while  demolishing  the  old  feudal  society. 
So  the  workers  must  not  waste  effort  seeking  to  conquer 

•  Cf.  Le  parti  socialiste  et  la  ConfMeration  GSnSrale  du  Travail ;  Berth, 
Lea  noureaux  aspects  du  aocialisme ;  Sorel,  La  dicomposilion  du  marxisme 
(Biblioth^ue  du  mouvement  socialiste). 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       875 


and  transform  the  bourgeois  institution,  the  state;  they 
must  destroy  the  state,  rob  it  of  its  functions.  The  pro- 
letariat has  its  own  distinctive  institution  ready  to  its 
hand  —  the  union.  It  is  the  mission  of  the  Confederation 
G^nerale  du  Travail  to  aid  the  workers  in  forging  this  new 
mechanism  for  its  divers  purposes,  building  up  union, 
federation,  labor  exchange,  each  with  its  part  to  play  in  the 
society  of  the  future.  Marx  himself,  whom  syndicalists 
delight  to  quote  against  the  Marxists,  was  the  first  to 
recognize  that  in  the  struggle  for  proletariat  emancipation 
the  union  was  to  play  the  part  played  by  the  commune 
in  the  struggle  for  bourgeois  emancipation.* 

The  union,  then,  has  a  double  part  to  play:  " In  the  pre- 
sent an  organization  for  collective  resistance,  in  the  future 
the  unit  of  production  and  distribution,  the  basis  of  social 
reorganization."  *  Or  as  the  organ  of  the  movement 
phrases  it:  "The  labor  unions  are  coming  to  recognize  more 
and  more  clearly  the  important  part  they  have  to  take  in 
the  social  structure.  They  know  that  besides  defending 
their  daily  bread  they  have  to  make  ready  the  future. 
They  know  that  the  labor  organization  is  the  matrix  in 
which  the  world  of  to-morrow  is  being  moulded." '  The 
institutions  of  the  future  exist  in  embryo  at  present;  here 
and  now  beginnings  may  be  made  in  upbuilding  the  order 
that  is  to  be.  Syndicalism  is  at  one  with  revisionism  in  this 
installment  attitude,  however  widely  the  means  adopted 
differ  in  character.  Action  is  not  postponed  till  some 
distant  cataclysmal  instant.  According  to  Pouget,  "the 
revolution  is  a  work  of  every  moment,  of  to-day  as  well 
as  of  to-morrow;  it  is  a  continuous  movement,  a  daily 
battle,  without  truce  or  respite,  against  the  forces  of 
oppression  and  exploitation."  *   In  such  a  creed,  it  is  clear, 

'  Cf.  Lagardelle  and  Berth,  op.  eit. ;  Sorel,  L'avenir  socialiste  da  «yn- 
dicati. 

'  CompU  rendu  du  ip*  cnngrh  national  corporatif,  p.  171. 

•  Voix  du  peuple,  no.  1,  1900. 

*  Pouget,  Le  par'i  du  travail,  p.  14. 


H 


li 


'■i!{-S^/:^^M 


l^m^m^m^mM^^. 


m^si^^^^?€ 


ff76 


SOCIAUSM 


I, 


there  is  none  of  the  passivity  of  the  fatalist  beh'cf  in  the 
all-sufficingness  of  economic  evolution,  none  of  the  passiv- 
ity of  deputed  action.  Syndicalism,  with  its  policy  of 
direct  action,  demands  all  the  courage  and  confidence  and 
energy  the  workers  can  summon,  and  in  turn  trains  them 
for  the  tasks  they  will  have  to  assume  in  the  future. 

Gradually,  then,  the  various  labor  organizations  must 
take  over  whatever  functions  they  can  snatch  from  the 
employer  and  from  the  state,  preparing  for  the  day  when 
they  will  supersede  both  entirely.  Against  the  state  direct 
action  takes  the  form  of  "external  pressure,"  by  agitation 
and  demonstration  in  force,  as  employed  in  the  successful 
campaign  in  1903-04  for  the  abolition  of  registry  offices, 
and  in  1906  for  the  passing  of  a  weekly  day-of-rest  law.' 
Against  the  employer  the  means  adopted  are  novel  not  in 
themselves  but  in  the  revolutionary  vigor  with  which  they 
are  applied.  The  strike,  the  main  weapon,  depends  for  its 
success  not  so  much  on  strong  strike  funds,  as  on  "the 
enthusiasm,  the  revolutionary  spirit,  the  aggressive 
vigor"  of  the  workers,  who  recognize  the  futility  of  com- 
peting with  their  employers  on  the  pecuniary  plane.* 
Characteristic  are  two  customs  which  have  marked  recent 
French  strikes:  the  "communist  kitchen,"  where  cooper- 
ative housekeeping  is  carried  on,  both  for  economy's  sake 
and  for  the  stimulus  of  contact,  and  the  "children's  ex- 
odus," the  dramatic  expedient  of  shipping  to  syndicalist 
sympathizers  in  other  cities  all  the  children  of  the  strik- 
ers, thus  putting  the  forces  on  a  war  basis.'  Sabotage,  or 
wrecking,  is  an  expedient  which  has  aroused  much  syn- 
dicalist enthusiasm  and  bourgeois  condemnation.  This 
means,  the  use  of  which  was  formally  recommended  by 
the  Congress  of  Toulouse,  takes  the  form  "sometimes  of  a 
slowing-up  in  production,  sometimes  of  bad  workmanship; 


1  Pouget,  Im  ConfMiration  Gcnhale  du  Trarul,  p.  46. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  41. 

*  H.  Lagardelle,  Archivfur  SozidLwisseiuchaft,  xxvi.  p.  611.  note. 


^5S?^^^^^^ 


.     1  !.■:-- 


v£../^^- 


;<:V;.v'.^J.;,.^;J: 


•v.-  ■:, 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT         877 


...  in  retail  trade  it  takes  the  form  of  wasting  the  com- 
modity sold,  to  the  customer's  lienefit,  or  the  contrary 
practice  of  rebuflBng  the  customer  to  lead  him  to  take  his 
custom  elsewhere.  .  .  .  The  fear  of  sabotage  is  a  precious 
sedative.  ...  An  example  of  its  efficacy  is  afiPorded  by 
the  success  of  the  employees  of  the  Parisian  hair-dressing 
establishments  in  winning  a  weekly  rest-day  and  shorter 
hours.  It  was  by  'whitewashing*  the  fronts  of  the  shops 
with  a  caustic  solution  which  injured  the  paint  that  this 
union  won  its  better  terms.  In  the  space  of  three  years 
out  of  the  two  thousand  shops  in  Paris  there  were  scarcely 
one  hundred  which  were  not  "whitewashed"  at  least  once 
if  not  oftener." ' 

The  most  spectacular  of  syndicalist  policies  is  the  gen- 
eral strike.  It  is  the  climax  of  "direct  action."  There  is 
something  that  fascinates  the  French  workman's  dramatic 
imagination  in  the  picture  of  the  sudden  paralysis  of 
industry  from  end  to  end  of  the  state  by  the  concerted 
strike  of  the  whole  working  force  of  the  country.  This 
policy,  discussed  sporadically  in  socialist  and  anarchist 
congresses  since  its  first  broaching  at  the  Geneva  Congress 
in  1866,  put  into  practice  of  late  years  by  the  workmen  of 
Belgium  and  Italy  and  Russia  to  secure  political  reforms, 
and  in  Sweden  in  1909  on  a  gigantic  scale  for  industrial  ends, 
has  become  the  peculiar  possession  of  French  syndicalism. 
At  first  it  took  the  idyllic  form  of  "the  revolution  with 
folded  arms"  —  a  mere  picnic  in  the  Bois  du  Boulogne; 
but  in  its  later  expressions  it  is  authoritatively  declared, 
"it  does  not  mean  merely  the  cessation  of  work;  it  means 

'  Pouget,  op.  cit.,  p.  41.  Cf.  Jules  Gucsdc:  "The  boycott,  sabotage, 
partial  strikes!  These  are  the  weapons,  the  sole  weapons,  with  which 
you  pretend  to  transform  the  institution  of  property  and  society !  It  is 
with  these  weapons  you  expect  to  make  a  thrifty  conqueFt  of  the  state, 
to  spike  the  cannons  trained  upon  you.  ...  Is  not  this  the  height  of 
ridiculousness?  And  yet  you  have  not  another  weapon  in  your  arsenal." 
— Speech  at  Congress  of  Nancy.  1907,  reported  in  Le  parti  socialiste  et  la 
Confediration  du  Travail,  p.  40. 


HI 


11 


I! 

I 

I 

i. 

-II: 


Ti-'.  -  • . '^r-^fi  ,'--■1   Vfiv 


•ill 


878 


SOCIALISM 


I  Lit' 


^-1 


the  taking  possession  of  the  wealth  of  society  ...  for  the 
common  good  .  .  .  hy  violent  or  peaceful  means  according 
to  the  resistance  to  be  overcome." ' 

Scouted  at  first  by  the  majority  of  socialists  —  general 
strike  is  general  nonsense,  declared  Auer  —  it  has  of  late 
made  rapid  headway  on  the  whole  continent.  Even  Ger- 
man socialists  have  given  it  qualified  adherence,  upholding 
the  reformist  or  peaceable  general  strike,  declared  for  the 
protection  or  obtaining  of  political  privileges  and  carried 
on  in  subordination  to  political  activity.  The  revolution- 
ary strike,  proclaimed  as  a  self-suflicient  instrument  for 
bringing  about  the  fall  of  capitalism,  is  ridiculed  by  leaders 
like  Bebel  and  Guesde,  who  contend  that  only  a  fraction 
of  the  population  could  be  induced  to  strike,  that  in  a  test 
of  enduran'^2  the  strikers  themselves  would  fare  worst, 
that  society  has  time  and  again  shown  tremendous  re- 
cuperative power  after  the  anarchy  of  devastating  war,  and 
that  failure  would  mean  not  merely  the  temporary  check 
political  defeat  entails  but  an  intense  reaction  crippling 
the  socialist  movement  for  years.'    Will  millions  of  work- 

'  Griffuelhes,  L'adion  tyndiealitte,  p.  S3.  Cf.  the  oflScial  prophecy  of 
its  workings:  "The  cessation  of  work,  which  would  place  the  country 
in  the  rigor  of  death,  would  necessarily  he  of  short  duration;  its  terrible 
and  incalculable  consequences  would  force  the  government  to  capitulate 
at  once.  If  it  refused,  the  proletariat,  in  revolt  from  one  end  of  France  to 
the  other,  would  be  able  to  compel  it,  for  the  militar>-  forces,  scattered 
and  jclated  over  the  whole  territory,  would  be  unable  to  act  in  concert 
and  could  not  oppose  the  slightest  resistance  to  the  will  of  the  worker 
at  last  masters  of  the  situation."  —  Circulaire  de  comitc  dc  la  grhe  gitU- 
rale,  1898. 

'  '  The  general  strike  has  attained  whole  or  partial  success  only  when 
it  has  been  abrupt,  when  it  ha.s  taken  the  government  by  surprise,  and 
when  .he  bourgeoisie  have  not  taken  a  solid  stand  against  the  strikers. 
This  was  the  case,  for  example,  with  the  first  Belgian  strike  in  April, 
1893,  and  the  first  Russian  general  strike  in  October,  1904.  On  the  other 
hand  the  Dutch  general  strike  (1903).  the  second  Belgian  general  strike 
(1902),  the  second  and  third  Russian  general  strikes,  which  did  not  take 
the  government  by  surprise  and  which  found  little  support  among  the 
bourgeoisie,  have  ended  in  checks  which  have  exercised,  long  after 
the  defeat,  a  depressing  influence  on  the  proletariat."  —  Vandervelde,  La 


^!?^S^ 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       270 

ingmen  consent  to  die  of  hunger  for  their  class,  when 
for  their  class  they  are  not  willinf*  to  drop  a  ballot  into 
the  baUot-l>ox?'  But  criticism  is  vain  against  religious  en- 
thusiasm; even  if  the  .'oneral  strike  is  impracticable,  it  has 
for  its  theoretical  adherents  the  incomparable  advantaf^e 
of  a  myth  which  animates  and  guides  the  seekers  after  the 
new  order.' 

A  necessary  complement  to  the  policy  of  the  general 
strike  is  the  anti-railitarism  propaganda,  and  the  mockery 
of  the  ideals  of  patriotism.  The  opposition  to  militarism 
has  its  origin  not  merely  in  the  knowledge  that  it  is  chiefly 
proletarian  flesh  that  will  provide  the  cannon-meat,  but 
in  hatred  of  the  tyranny  and  the  demoralization  of  barrack 
life,'  and  above  all  in  the  fear  of  the  use  of  the  army,  with 
its  upi)er-class  officers,  to  repress  the  partial  strikes  of 
to-day  and  the  general  strike  of  to-morrow.  The  worn-  lut 
prejudices  of  patriotism  make  no  appeal;  the  probability 
of  foreign  invasion  carries  no  alarm.  What  difference  does 
it  make  whether  it  is  under  the  French  flag  or  the  German 
that  workmen  are  victims  of  unemployment  and  peasants 
eaten  by  mortgages;  what  difference  whether  the  bullets 
that  put  down  strike  or  insurrection  come  from  French  or 
from  German  guns?  "Monsieur  the  advocate-general, 
cease  waving  the  kaiser-bogey  before  us,  to  whom  it  is 
indifferent  whether  we  are  French  or  German."  *  Herve- 
ism,  militant  anti-patriotism,  it  is  true,  is  genetically  not 
so  much  a  product  of  syndicalist  economic  thinking  as  of 

Grcre  Genhalc.  Cf.  Die  Lchren  di:i  .irhwedt-irhrn  Rienrnkampfe.i,  in  Kor- 
reapondenzblatt  der  Qeneralkommissicn  der  Gewcrkschaften  DeuUchlanda, 
1909. 

'  Guesde,  Congris  de  Lille,  1904. 

*  Cf.  Sorel,  Reflexions  sut  la  riolence. 

'  "The  army  is  not  merel;'  the  school  of  crime,  it  is  also  the  school  of 
vice,  the  school  of  idleness,  of  trickery,  of  hypocrisy  and  cowardice." 
Noureau  Manuel  du  Soldat,  Federation  dea  Bourses  du  Travail,  16th  edi- 
tion, p.  10. 

*  Gustuve  Wervi,  L'atUi-palrioti*me:  Didaration  en  Cour  ff  Assises,  53d 
thousand,  p.  81. 


t 


:i 


^.  ^^^vy 


■Wh^'^v  '-^ftii 


280 


SOCLYLISM 


bourgeois  cosmopolitanism  gone  to  seed;  the  official  ex- 
ponents of  the  new  unionism  are  careful  to  point  out  the 
remnant  of  ideological  prejudice  which  betrays  the  origin 
of  Herv^ism.'  Whatever  its  theoretical  parentage,  how- 
ever, the  anti-patriotic  campaign  finds  wide  support  among 
syndicalists  as  well  as  among  more  orthodox  socialist  and 
bourgeois  cranks. 

An  essential  feature  of  the  syndicalist  creed  is  the  hos- 
tility to  majority  rule.  Syndicalism  possesses  the  happy 
faculty  of  making  virtues  of  its  necessities.  Faced  with 
the  fact  that  it  is  only  a  minority  of  a  minority,  includ- 
ing in  its  ranks,  at  most,  400,000  of  the  850,000  union  men 
in  France,  t  ho  in  turn  are  only  about  17  per  cent  of  the 
whole  number  of  male  workers,  the  C.  G.  T.  proudly 
asserts  the  rights  of  the  mmority  to  rule.  Democracy, 
with  its  majority-rule  superstition,  installs  in  power  the 
react;  inary  and  the  sluggish,  the  inert  and  refractory 
masses.  Syndicalism  proclaims  the  right  of  the  conscious 
and  enlightened  minority,  stewards  of  the  future,  to 
represent  the  "human  zeros"  who  have  not  awakened 
to  their  opportunities,  whether  they  will  or  no.'*  A  practical 
application  of  this  doctrine  is  found  in  the  refusal  of  the 
controlling  spirits  of  the  C.  G.  T.  to  give  the  larger  and 
more  conservative  organizations  represented  the  weight 
to  which  their  numbers  entitle  them,  petty  federations 
with  a  few  score  of  members  counting  for  as  much  as  great 
national  unions  with  a  score  of  thousands. 

It  is  probable  that  in  time  the  syndicalist  movement 
will  become  more  conservative  in  its  creed  and  tactics  as 
it  becomes  stronger  and  more  representative.  Meantime 
its  effect  has  been  to  make  the  Socialist  party  more  radical. 
The  swing  to  the  right  has  for  the  moment  been  reversed. 
The  party  has  found  it  necessary  to  furbish  up  its  rusty 
revolutionary  phrases  to  avert  wholesale  desertion  to  the 

*  Cf.  Le  mouvement  toeialxHe,  no.  205,  pp.  472-475. 
'  Cf.  Pouget,  op.  c'd.,  pp.  24-26. 


1^- 


mk 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       281 


anti-political  forces.  It  is  not  the  least  curious  featrre  of 
the  situation  that  while  revolutionist  Guesde  excommun- 
icates syndicalism  with  bell,  book,  and  candle,  the  oppor- 
tunist Jaures,  ministeriahst  of  yesterday,  but  bent  on 
unity  at  all  costs,  is  willing  to  go  with  the  syndicalists  a 
mile  that  they  may  go  with  him  twain.  Parliamentary 
opportunism  and  anti-parliamentary  syndicalism  have  this 
in  common,  that  both  look  to  establishing  the  foundations 
of  the  future  socialist  order  in  the  present  order,  rpther 
than,  as  the  old-fashioned  revolutionists  propose,  postpon- 
ing the  bulk  of  the  constructive  work  of  reform  till  after  the 
judgment-day  of  capitalism  has  passed.  The  party  has  not 
committed  itself  to  the  whole  syndicalist  programme.  It 
has  perforce,  however,  in  spite  of  the  strong  opposition  of 
th'^  orthodox,  now  become  the  moderate  faction,  acknow- 
ledged the  equality,  if  not  the  superiority,  of  the  economic 
over  the  political  weapon.  It  has  indorsed  the  general 
strike.  It  has  refused  to  abandon  the  ideal  of  patriotism 
or  to  condemn  defensive  warfare,  but  it  has  been  so  far 
aflfectfd  by  Herveism  as  to  sanction  the  most  vigorous 
campaign  against  warfare  "by  all  means,  from  parliament- 
ary intervention,  public  agitation,  and  popular  demonstra- 
tions to  the  general  strike  of  the  working  classes  and  in- 
surrection." It  has  vigorously  attacked  the  Clemenceau 
and  Briand  governments  for  their  firm  repression  of  strike 
violence,  and  has  indorsed  the  demands  of  the  postal  and 
railway  employees  of  the  state  for  a  measure  of  administra- 
tive autonomy  which  would  eventually  lead  to  the  super- 
session of  the  state  by  the  unions  of  government  employees, 
in  t-e  management  of  nationalized  industries.  At  the  same 
time  the  change  in  the  political  situation  confirms  this  tend- 
ency of  the  socialists  to  stand  aloof  from  the  government. 
The  rout  of  the  clerical  and  monarchical  forces  has  re- 
moved the  danger  which  bound  all  the  parties  of  the  Left 
together  in  defense  of  a  lay  and  Republican  France.  The 
government  tends  to  substitute  a  policy  of  reconciliation 


31 


I: 


I 


Ml' 


ir; 


S82 


SOCIALISM 


and  soci J  peace  for  the  policy  of  combat  and  to  find  its 
support  in  a  regrouping  of  centre  parties.  As  it  shifts  to  the 
right,  inevitably  the  Socialist  party  reverts  to  its  isolation 
on  the  extreme  left  —  till  the  next  turn  of  the  kaleido- 
scope. 

From  France  and  Germany  socialism  has  spread  through- 
out Europe,  varying  with  the  industrial  and  political  and 
racial  environment  of  each  country.    The  movement  is 
everywhere  of  interest  and,  in  several  states,  of  importance. 
In  Italy,  a  middle-class,  intellectual,  reformist  socialism 
seems  to  be  gaining  the  upper  hand  over  a  revolutionary 
working-class  syndicalism.    In  Spain,  the  socialist  move- 
ment, strongly  tinged  with  anarchism,  is  perforce  as  much 
anti-clerical  and  anti-monarcnical  as  anti-capitalist.     In 
Hungary  and  eastern  Europe,  the  movement  is  compara- 
tively weak  in  face  of  the  feudalist  constitution  of  society. 
In  Austria,  the  growing  industrialism  and  the  preoccupa- 
tion of  other  parties  with  racial  issues  have  giveii  socialism 
strong  hold  as  the  chief  means  of  expressing  social  discon- 
tent. In  Russia,  despotism  has  made  the  right  wing  of  the 
movement,  the  Social  Democratic  party,  revolutionary, 
and  the  left  wing,  the  Socialist  Revolutionary  party,  ter- 
rorist.  In  the  Scandinavian  countries,  socialism  is  firmly 
based  on  trade  unionism.   In  Belgium,  the  characteristic 
feature  is  the  development  of  cooperation,  and  to  a  less 
extent  of  trade  unionism,  alongside  the  political  party,  as 
equal  and  integral  parts  of  the  movement.  In  Holland,  the 
inevitable  strife  between  opposing  sections  has  led  to  oppor- 
tunist triumph  and  orthodox  secession.    Yet,  interesting 
and  important  as  are  the  Continental  developments,  no- 
where are  the  fortunes  of  socialist  agitation  so  significant 
as  in  the  two     juntries  which  are  the  chief  seats  of  the 
capitalism  against  which  socialism  makes  war,  the  United 
Kingdom  and  the  United  States. 

It  is  a  striking  instance  of  the  irony  of  fate  that  the 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       28S 

country  which  Marx  regarded  as  the  mirror  in  which  all 
other  lands  could  see  their  own  future  development,  the 
country  which  gave  him  the  data  for  the  downfall  of 
capitalism  he  forecast,  and  sheltered  him  m  the  unques- 
tioning obscurity  of  London  while  he  elaborated  his  world- 
shaking  theories,  is  the  land  of  all  the  great  powers  of 
Europe   where    revolutionary    socialism    makes    slowest 
progress.   Seventy  years  ago  Engels  declared  that     pro- 
phecy is  nowhere  so  easy  as  in  England.  .  •  .  The  revolu- 
tion  must  come;  it  is  already  too  late  to  bring  about  a 
peaceful  solution."  That  revolution  still  hangs  fire. 

Racial  qualities  have  made  against  ready  acceptance  of 
sweeping  socialist  proposals  of  regeneration    The  indmd- 
uaUstic  temper  of  the  typical  Englishman,  his  sturdy  self- 
reliance  and  readiness  to  fight  for  his  own  hand,  coupled 
with  an  instinctive  i-espect  for  his  social  superiors,  his 
uneasy  distrust  of  long  views  and  theoretical  complete- 
ness, his  insular  prejudice  against  mere  foreigners  ideas  - 
passing  latterly -his  proneness  to  compromise  and  to 
muddle  through.have  long  been  recognized  as  bulwarks  of 
the  existing  order.  This  very  reluctance  to  commit  himself 
to  a  doctrinaire  position,  however,  works  to  some  extent 
both  ways;  he  will  not  be  deterred  from  advocatmg  a 
specific  installment  of  socialist  practice  which  commends 
itself  to  his  judgment  by  fears  of  long-distance   conse- 
quences; Liberty  and  Property  Defense  Leagues  share  the 
sectarian 'solation  of  Social  Democratic  parties. 

The  econoruic  environment  presents  both  favorable  and 
unfavorable  aspects  to  the  agitator.  In  no  country  has  the 
concentration  of  landed  property  gone  to  the  lengths 
familiar  in  the  United  Kingdom.   With  a  Scottish  duca 
estate  running  over  a  million  acres,  and  half  of  the  land  of 
England  and  Wales  in  the  hands  of  four  thousand  owners, 
the  time  would  seem  ripe  for  socialist  preaching.  \ei  lew 
fields  are  in  reality  less  favorable;  the  isolation   of  the 
Ent'lish  rural  laborer,  his  narrow  horizons  and  his  social 


.-  s 

'i  ■ 


« 


284 


SOCIALISM 


dependence  thwart  all  efforts  at  organized  rbvolt.  An 
equally  effective  and  much  more  desirable  bulwark  against 
disaffection  than  the  ignorance  of  Hodge  is  the  independ- 
ence of  Pat:  the  intervention  of  the  state  to  establish 
peasant  proprietorship  in  Ireland,  coupled  with  th»*  hos- 
tility of  the  Catholic  Church,  effectually  closes  the  greater 
part  of  the  Emerald  Isle  to  the  coUectivist.  In  industrial 
and  mining  centres  conditions  are  more  favorable  for  him: 
the  little  likeUhood  of  the  average  workman  rising  to 
independent  wealth  gives  the  occasion,  the  relative  com- 
fort the  spirit,  and  the  daily  Eind  nightly  group  contact  the 
op|x>rtunity  for  organized  class  effort.  It  does  not  neces- 
sarily follow,  however,  that  this  effort  will  be  directed  to 
the  overthrow  rather  than  to  the  modification  of  the  cap- 
italist system:  the  trade  union,  especially  of  the  skilled 
',  ades,  may  become  a  pillar  of  society  and  the  cooperative 
5>  as  notable  for  its  joint-stock  individualism  as  for  its 
social  unity.  The  long  preeminence  of  Britain  in  manu- 
facturing and  commerce,  again,  brought  a  prosperity  in 
which  the  workers  shared,  and  though  inevitably  Britain's 
lead  has  lessened,  as  other  nations  have  taken  the  place 
their  resources  and  energy  command,  absolutely  her  pro- 
sperity shows  no  signs  of  slackening. 

The  political  institutions  of  Britain  have  been  as  import- 
ant as  the  economic  in  shaping  the  course  of  social  move- 
ments. Her  democratic  freedom  has  made  for  sane  pro- 
gress. Slowly  and  stubbornly  the  progressive  forces  have 
forced  the  broa'^"iing  of  the  franchise  to  include  every 
male  househol  permanent  lodger,  and  little  com- 

plaint is  heard  from  the  men  still  beyond  the  pale.  The 
civil  liberty  which  permits  freedom  of  speech,  of  writing 
and  jf  association,  and  makes  the  oflScial  respv  nsible  at 
law  for  his  acts,  has  long  been  the  despair  of  Coi/inental 
workingmen.  This  freedom,  civil  and  political,  makes 
agitation  easy  but  also  makes  it  less  dangerous;  there  is 
no  Russian  policeman  sitting  on  the  safety-valve.    The 


"•MT-nr^T'TT 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT 


285 


anomalous  privileges  of  hereditary  l^^"^^^."^,^.  ^^ 
attempt  to  keep  the  Commons  an  appendage  of  the  leisure 
c  a!l  by  refusing  payment  of  members  have  had  far- 
reXg  effect  on  the  tactics  of  the  labor  ^-n^f!  • 
Ca^'net  government  has  assured  majority  control,  while 
the  two-party  framework  within  which  the  modern  social 
L:vement  has  been  developed,  has  made  for  compnjm.^ 
^d  cooperation,  rather  than  for  the  antagonism  of  the 

"t  tht  environment  it  was  certain  that  there  could  be 

no  mere  duplication  of  the  German  or  the  French  move- 

mer  For  many  a  year,  indeed,  it  seemed  that  no  con- 

Zl  organT^d' Jalist  movement  of  any  type  would 
scious  organ  ^^^  ^^^^^  ^^^^^ 

SSonl  Owenil  and  Chartism  died  down  a.  freedom 
of  t7ade  and  regulation  of  industry  fostered  and  shared 
prosperity    The^^^^^^      classes  were  absorbed  in  politica 
S^aTon'to  secure  the  suffrage  and  in  the  daily  Usk  of 
t  -Miner   ,.n   strone   and   businesslike   umons.     t^ngiisn 
Sation  Tthe  International  was  half-hearted  and 
?     tint;  orv  ends    On  aU  sides  socialism  was  regarded 
'^^'^^^n^  -lady  from  which  Britain  was 
Lunately  immune.  Then  slowly  the  change  came.  The 
Sntent  of  the  franchise  left  the  field  ^^  or  ^-m 
amtation     The  New  Unionism,  representing  the  ettort.. 
oUh   unskiUed  millions  to  organize,  developed  tendencies 
Ire  radical  than  had  marked  the  older  ---;^^^^^^^^^ 
skilled  trades,  the  aristocracy  of  labor.    Henry  George  s 
buntg  attack  on  the  iniquities  of  landlordism  made  a 
nXnd  impression  in  Great  Britain  and  stirred  wide 
Tdes  to    adlal  thinking  and  to  attacks  on  other  fornis 
of  nr^vUege  than  r^nt.   The  writings  of  Marx  gradually 
bLame  knol.  Slowly  one  organization  after  another  was 
tZl  to  voice  the  rishig  unrest  and  socialism  was  once 
TTinrP  a  conscious  force  in  Britain. 
F^t  rthe  field,  and  to  this  day  the  chief  exponent  of 


n 

(fl 


1! 


f80 


SOCIALISM 


li      -? 


!r!:l^ 


pure  Marxism  in  England,  was  the  Social  Democratic 
Federation.  Established  in  1881  as  an  advanced  radical 
society,  it  adopted  its  socialist  name  and  policy  two  years 
later.  From  that  time  it  has  been  indomitably  persevering, 
if  not  correspondingly  effective,  in  proclaiming  the  collect- 
ivist  gospel.  At  one  time  or  another  it  has  counted  in  its 
ranks  most  of  the  leading  socialists  of  England.  Hyndman 
and  Burrows,  prominent  among  the  founders,  and  Quelch 
and  Lee  of  the  early  recruits,  are  still  in  command.  But 
the  majority  of  the  able  men  it  attracted  have  later  fallen 
away.  William  Morris,  who  broadened  socialist  thought 
to  take  heed  of  art,  Belfort  Bax,  the  philosopher  of  the 
movement,  and  Ernest  Aveling,  son-in-law  of  Marx  and 
popularizer  of  his  writings,  seceded  in  1885,  to  form  the 
short-lived  Socialist  League;  the  sources  of  dissension  were 
chiefly  personal,  though  Morris  soon  developed  strong 
anarchistic  sympathies  incompatible  with  the  rigid  col- 
lectivism of  the  parent  society.  Many  of  the  Fabian  lead- 
ers for  a  time  found  uneasy  anchorage  in  the  Federation. 
Champion  was  expelled  after  his  "Tory  gold"  exploits 
in  1886,  Tom  Mann  was  lost  to  Australia,  and  John  Bums, 
lovingly  dubbed  Judas  Iscariot  by  his  quondam  mates, 
to  the  Liberals  and  Whitehall. 

"The  Federation,"  wrote  Engels  in  a  private  letter  in 
1890,  "always  acts  as  though  besides  itself  there  only 
existed  asses  and  quacks."'  This  judgment  of  Engels 
reveals  the  source  of  the  impotence  of  the  organization. 
More  Marx  it  than  Marx,  it  early  stereotyped  a  set  of 
doctrines  which  are  still  drearily  reiterated  in  speech  and 
pamphlet,  and  in  the  weekly  party  organ,  "Justice."  The 
S.  D.  F.,  as  it  was  usually  known,  or  the  S.  D.  P.,  since  it 
changed  its  name  to  Social  Democratic  Party  in  19C8, 
took  its  stand  firmly  on  the  class  war,  looked  forward 
hopefully  to  the  speedy  collapse  of  capitalism,  and  set 
itself  resolutely  to  instruct  and  marshal  the  proletarian 
•  Ecgeis  to  Sorge  in  Socidit{  Revioc,  \,  p.  30. 


t«=ST£, 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       887 

hosts.  It  ill  concealed  its  scorn  for  the  cautious,  bargaining, 
half-bourgeois  trade  union.   In  early  days  the  Federation 
leaders  played  with  revolutionary  phrases  and  dropped 
darksome  hints  about  the  progress  of  chemistry  in  the 
fashioning  of  explosives,  which  might  easily  prove  to 
capitalism   what    gunpowder   had   been   to   feudalism.* 
In  Victorian  England,  however,  they  found  it  necessary  to 
confine  themselves  to  political  weapons,  entered  the  race 
for  votes  zealously,  and  drew  up  a  varied  programme  of 
immediate  reforms  ranging  from  abolition  of  the  monarchy 
and  repudiation  of  the  national  debt  to  free  maintenance 
of  school-children  and  the  eight-hour  day.*  Yet  the  work- 
ers have  not  flocked  to  their  banner;  the  party  member- 
ship is  scarce  a  fortieth  of  the  German  strength,  and  not  a 
single  S.  D.  P.  representative  sits  in  the  British  Parliament. 
The  average  worker  has  been  repelled  by  the  strange 
phraseology  in  which  their  doctrines  are  clothed,  the  over- 
much talk  of  proletariat  and  surplus  value  and  class  con- 
flict, by  the  sectarian  bitterness  of  their  criticism  of  friend 
and  foe  alike,  and  by  their  rigid  refusal  to  compromise 
for  any  gain.  Yet  while  barren  of  immediate  victories  the 
S.  D.  P.  is  doubtless  entitled  to  claim  credit  for  preventing 
the  opportunism  of  the  less  doctrinaire  socialist  groups 
degenerating  into  absorption  in  one  of  the  older  parties. 
The  army  enrolled  is  small,  but  the  Social  Democratic 
party  has  valiantly  kept  the  Red  Flag  flying. 

At  the  opposite  pole  of  temperament  and  tactics  stand 
tlie  Fabians.  "The  Fabians  here  in  London,"  to  adopt 
another  of  Engels'  characterizations,  "are  a  band  of  ambi- 
tious folk  who  have  sufficient  understanding  to  compre- 

1  Hyndman,  Historical  Basis  of  Socialism  in  England,  1883.  p.  443. 

«  "Socialism  does  not  reject  useful  palliatives  of  existing  anarchy. 
True,  we  know  that  such  palliatives,  howe\.'r  attractive  m  appearance, 
will  only  provide  better  wage-slaves  for  capitalists  under  existing  insti- 
tutions. But  several  of  them  will  serve  to  check  degeneration  and  to 
bring  up  a  more  capable  race  to  face  the  difficulties  of  the  near  future. 
—  Hyndman,  Social  Democracy,  p.  24. 


fl 
At- 


-i  I 

'i     ■ 

■t 

1:1 


imm^ 


888 


SOCIALISM 


M 


hend  the  inevitableness  of  the  social  revolution  but  who 
cannot  trust  this  gigantic  work  to  the  rough  proletarian 
alone,  and  therefore  have  the  kindness  to  place  themselves 
at  the  head  of  it.  Dread  of  the  revolution  is  their  funda- 
mental principle." '  It  is  necessary  to  go  back  to  the  Phil- 
osophic  Radicals  to  find  a  small  group  of  men  who  have 
exercised  such  a  profound  influence  over  English  political 
thought  as  the  little  band  of  social  investigators  who 
organized  the  Fabian  Society  in  1883.  They  were  nearly 
all  men  of  outstanding  ability,  —  Sidney  Webb,  Sydney 
Olivier,  Bernard  Shaw,  William  Clarke,  Graham  Wallas, 
Hubert  Bland,  and  E.  R.  Pease  especially,  —  men  of  mid- 
dle-class origin,  and  of  university  training.  After  a  year 
or  two  of  groping  the"  found  themselves  and  their  tac- 
tics. For  a  quarter-ceutury  their  aim  has  been  twofold, 
to  inform  the  socialist  movement,  refurbish  its  intellectual 
equipment,  and  to  speed  the  socialization  of  British  in- 
dustry. In  the  first  object  their  success  has  been  more 
marked  in  dealing  with  specific  problems  than  in  providing 
a  satisfactory  theoretical  basis  for  socialism.  In  spite  of 
ingenious  incursions  into  economic  rent  and  the  minimum 
wage,  they  cannot  be  said  to  have  furnished  an  analysis  of 
capitalism  at  all  comparable  in  sweep  and  power  to  the 
Marxian  theory,  which  they  hold  in  supercilious  contempt. 
In  historical  and  analytical  studies  of  the  trade-union, 
cooperative,  and  trust  movements,  however,  members  of 
the  society  have  done  work  of  the  first  order,  not  equaled 
by  any  orthodox  contemporary,  and  in  essay  and  tract  one 
concrete  problem  after  another  has  been  examined  with 
thoroughness  and  constructive  ability,  if  always  with 
collectivist  bias. 

The  Fabians  are  the  typical  opportunists  of  socialism, 

the  preachers  of  revolution  by  installment.  The  continuity 

of  social  progress  is  their  dominating  prepossession.  They 

do  not  believe,  like  their  Hegelian  cousins,  that  a  day  will 

*  SocicdUt  Review,  i,  p.  31. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       889 

ever  come  when  it  can  be  said,  there  was  unsocialism.  here 
Jl  ^sLTalism.     It  has  been  their  poUtical  tactics  to 

TnLvor  to  lead  the  P-^rtVf'lZ^X^nl 
convince  the  Liberal  and  the  Radical  and  the  Tory  Demo- 
"^t  hat  socialism  is  the  logical  successor  o  their  now  o^- 
woLreeds.  They  have  labored  ingemously  t«  sho^^^^^^ 
an  unconscious  socialism  is  already  m  ful  swing  m  Britain 
^ZT-office  and  public  school,  in  hawkers'  l^censesand 
acCyTnTp^rtion  and  income  taxation,  dra^^^ 

bXt  the  nation  may  as  well  be  ^-f  j^^  ^^i" 
for  a  lamb,  and  go  consciously  to  the  end  of  the  sociaUst 
,^ad  lnst;ad  of  founding  a  party,  they  have  preferred 
to  remab  a  coterie,  permeating  the  existing  Part-s  and 
tdng  the  pace  by  the  insistent  pressure  from  withm  of 

a  resolute  and  purposeful  minority. 

Th    influen^^ued  in  parliament  and  county  ^uncil 
was  directed  steadily  toward  the  extension  of  state  and 
Tnic^  activity  in  the  industrial  field    The  Fabian  is 
Tutely  state  conscious.    Rejecting  the  class  struggle,  he 
Ws  stress  on  social  solidarity,  on  the  organic  uni  y  of  the 
nion     And  society  he  is  prone  to  identify  with  stat^ 
hJ  rhopelessly  bureaucratic;  it  is  not  without  significance 
fha   WeW,  and  Olivier  and  others  of  the  group  were  civil 
seirtr  Strong  where  Marx  was  weak,  the  Fabian  has 
Tpiln  for  constructing  administrative  -chine^y.  H« 
tendency  is  toward   salvation  by  samurai,  efficient  well 
M  government  by  Superior  Persons,  backed  by  all  the 
^wer  of  the  state.   In  the  ideal  Fabian  state  the  French 
^n6\M  would  suffocate  for  breath  and  call  for  the 
^Sortt^n  of  the  old  order  at  any  cost.  Of  late  years  there 

.  "  Their  tactics  are  to  fight  the  Liberals  not  as  J^^ed  «p^^^^^^^^^ 
to  drive  them  on  to  socialistic  -^-J- *  ^^^^^^  Mstlci- 
penneate  Liberalism  with  ^'^f 'T""Jff" ^  thrusUhem  on.  under  some 
dates  to  LilM^ral  ones,  but  to  pa  m  them  off  *«  ^h^"^  J^^^^^  „;,,  ,^,  elasa 
pretext.  When  they  come  to  the.r  «P^;^;^^.*=*''^i^^^^^^^ 
war.  all  is  rotten.   Hence  th- fana Ucl.^^^^^^^^^^^ 
account  of  the  class  war.   —  tngtss  lo  surbe,  io 


li 

II 

■I 


I,-, ..-  -.^ -? ^-. 


'm^M 


290 


SOCIALISM 


fA%  w.'    ilflf*' 


have  been  mild  revolutionary  movementa  io  the  society, 
and  attempts  have  been  made  by  new  members  to  set  on 
foot  a  more  independent  activity;  but  as  yet  the  Fabian 
remains  a  Fabian. 

The  Social  Democratic  party  appealed  to  the  class- 
conscious  workingman  who  could  stomach  the  strong  meat 
of  Marxian  economics.  The  Fabian  Society  was  an  organ 
of  the  cultured  middle  class.  Neither  appealed  to  that 
wide  circle  of  middle  and  working  class  men  and  women 
who  took  a  prevailingly  ethical  rather  than  economic  or 
administrative  attitude  to  life.  To  win  their  support 
socialism  must  appeal  in  more  idealistic  guise.  In  part  this 
want  was  filled  by  the  various  Christian  Socialist  societies 
which  carry  on  the  tradition  of  Kingsley  and  Maurice,  the 
Guild  of  St.  Matthew,  the  Christian  Socialist  Union, 
the  Liberal  Christian  League,  and  other  organizations.  In 
their  vague,  denatured  version,  socialism  appears  as  a 
deduction  from  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  an  attempt  at 
moralizing  industry  and  settling  social  problems  in  the 
spirit  of  Christian  brotherhood.  The  Clarion  Fellowship 
is  another  idealist  organization,  or  rather  circle  of  readers, 
held  together  by  the  strong  personality  and  virile  homely 
En,!»lish of  Robert  Blatchford,  whose  "  Merrie  England  "  and 
"Britain  for  the  British"  and  weekly  "Clarion"  have  done 
more  than  any  other  agency  to  bring  socialism  of  a  some- 
what Utopian  and  communist  type  to  the  understanding  of 
the  average  Englishman.  The  incurable  national  interest 
in  theology  shows  itself  in  Blatchford  in  vigorous  criticisms 
of  Christian  dogma  which  cause  deep  embarrassment  to 
the  more  orthodox  brethren.  There  is  also  a  strong  idealist 
strain  in  the  Independent  Labor  party,  the  most  vital  of 
the  existing  socialist  organizations.  Founded  in  1893  by 
socialist  trade  unionists,  dissatisfied  with  the  political 
dei^endence  of  labor,  it  set  itself  to  organize  the  working 
classes  and  other  sympathizers  by  methods  more  adapted 
to  British  prejudices  than  those  practiced  by  the  uncom- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       291 

promising  S.  D.  F.  The  enthusiasm  of  Keir  Hardie.  the 
organizing  ability  of  Ramsay  Macdonald,  the  fire  of  Philip 
Snowden.  reinforced  by  the  unceasing  efforts  of  hundreds 
of  local  adherents,  many  of  them  socialist  orators  through 
the  week  and  local  preachers  on  Sunday,  slowly  and  stead- 
ily won  converts,  especially  in  the  industrial  north.    Yet 
when  the  1895  elections  were  held,  the  party  did  not  suc- 
ceed in  capturing  a  single  seat;  its  vote  of  50,000  was 
scattered  through  28  constituencies.  When  the  nineteenth 
century  drew  to  a  close  the  I.  L.  P.  had  no  more  electoral 
success  to  its  credit,  except  on  municipal  bodies,  than  its 
older  rival.  Politically,  socialism  appeared  to  be  a  negligible 

force  in  England. 

For  years  it  had  been  the  dream  of  socialist  agitators 
to  win  the  embattled  millions  of  trade  unionism  to  their 
cause.    On  the  surface  progress  seemed  slow.    Only  a 
minute  fraction  of  union  members  had  enlisted  in  the 
ranks  of  either  of  the  main  propagandist  bodies.  The  vast 
majority  continued  to  vote  for  Liberal  or  for  Conservative 
candidates,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  the  miners,  elected  union 
members  who  formed  an  almost  indistinguishable  section 
of  the  Liberal  party.    Yet  slowly  many  of  the  younger 
leaders  were  being  converted  to  more  radical  convictions, 
and  the  virtual  halt  in  social  reform  which  marked  the  last 
decades  of  the  century,  synchronizing  with  the  revival  of 
imperialist   ambitions,'    brought    many   who   halted    at 
socialism  to  feel  the  need  of  independent  working-class 
representation.  The  reaction  culminated  in  a  series  of 
judicial  decisions,  upsetting  the  privilege  of  immunity  from 
suit  trade  unions  had  enjoyed  unquestioned  for  thirty 
years  and  paralyzing  their  most  effective  means  of  action. 
The  Taff  Vale  judgment  crj'stallized  the  growing  dis- 
content.  The  Trade  Union  Congress  which  met  in  1899 
decided  to  strive  for  independent  labor  representation, 
primarily  to  secure  the  reversal  of  the  Taff  Vale  decision. 

1  Cf.  Hobhouse,  Democracy  and  Reactian. 


11 

|i 
II 

:  ¥ 

*  I 


n  I 


A^: 


tM 


SOOAUSM 


lis'  ■ 


For  this  purpose  a  Labor  Representation  Committee  was 
appointed,  to  unite  trade  unions,  co(iperative  societies,  urui 
socialist  organizations  in  an  electoral  alliance  for  this 
common  end.  The  coOiJcrative  societies  remained  almost 
entirely  aloof.  The  trade  unions  came  in  with  alacrity,  the 
adhesion  of  the  miners,  the  last  large  group  to  hesitate,  in 
1908,  bringing  the  membership  represented  up  to  nearly 
a  million  and  a  half.  The  socialist  organizations  had  to  face 
the  question  whether  alliance  would  bring  permeation  of 
labor  by  socialist  views  or  absorplion  of  socialists  in  the 
huge  labor  mass.  The  Fabians  and  I.  L.  P.  had  sufficient 
opportunism  and  sufficient  faith  in  their  convictions  to 
join  the  movement  and  remain  in  permanent  cooperation. 
The  S.  D.  F.  joined  at  the  outset,  but  seceded  after  a  brief 
experience  of  the  impossibility  of  foisting  Marxian  social- 
ism on  the  party.'  The  new  organization  was  soon  tested. 
Taken  unprepared  in  the  khaki  election  of  1900,  it  suc- 
ceeded in  winning  only  two  seats,  though  polling  an 
average  vote  of  four  thousand  m  the  constituencies  con- 
tested. In  1906  fortune  was  more  favorable;  thirty  mem- 
bers were  returned,  and  the  adherence  later  of  the  miners' 
representatives  brought  the  strength  of  the  party  up  to 
over  forty. 

Success  brought  up  the  crucial  issue  which  is  dividing 
socialism  the  worid  over.  What  attitude  should  the  labor 
group  take  to  Parliament  and  to  older  parties?  On  the  one 
hand  the  straiter  socialists,  within  the  party  and  without, 

'  A  curious  reversal  of  rftles  followed  when  the  London  correspondent 
of  VoTwaria,  Herr  Beer,  revealed  to  the  I.  L.  P.  the  fact  that  Marx  had 
declared  that  one  labor  movement  was  worth  ten  socialist  platforms, 
that  the  important  thing  was  that  the  forces  of  labt)r  should  move  as  a 
class  —  that  socialism  would  follow.  At  once  the  I.  L.  P.  ceased  the  crit- 
icisms directed  against  Marx  when  he  was  rega:  Vd  as  the  special  totem 
of  the  S.  D.  P.,  and  delighted  to  boast  its  supenoi  Marxian  orthodoxy. 
The  International  Socialist  Bureau  took  the  same  view  when  in  1909 
it  admitted  the  Labor  party  to  membership,  on  the  ground  that,  while 
the  party  did  not  explicitly  recognize  the  class  struggle,  it  was  actually 
c»rryi:ig  it  on. 


iva;: 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       8M 

urged  rigid  independence  of  both  the  capitalist  parties, 
a  firm  insistence  that  Parliament  should  straightway  cease 
its  mere  partisan  trivialities  and  Ix-gin  tht  emwtment  of 
the  coUectivist  programme,  an  unceasing  gucnllu  action 
regardless  of  the  fate  of  cabinets  or  front-bench  arrange- 
ments.   On  the  other  hand,  the  more  practical  men  re- 
nounced sterile  declamation  and  called    for  a  working 
arrangement  with  whatever  allies  might  Ije  foun<l.  to  secure 
at  least  an  installment  of  the  reforms  demanded.    The 
opportunists  won  all  along  the  line,  and  the  jwlicy  of  co- 
operation with  the  Liberals  was  adopted  from  the  start. 
Given  the  i)olitical  situation  and  the  temi)er  of  l>oth  the 
necessary  parties  to  such  a  bargain  which  existed  in  the 
1906  and  1910  Pariiaments,  such  a  decision  was  inevitable. 
On  the  side  of  the  Labor  party,  both  rank  and  file  and  par- 
liamentary leaders  were  pre^"     -ed  to  alliance.  The  great 
majority  of  the  individual  me    .>ers  were  more  concerned 
with  the  remedying  of  their  immcdmt-  grievances  than 
with  ushering  in  the  coUectivist  commonwealth  of  the 
distant  future.   Undoubtclly  socialist  sentiment  has  ^n 
mak'ng  rapid  advance  in  trade-union  circles;  at  the  Hull 
Congress  of  the  Labor  party,  held  in  1908,  while  a  motion 
advocating  nationalization  of  land  and  capital  was  voted 
down  by  a  ten  to  one  majority,  a  similar  resolution,  held, 
however,  by  party  casuists  to  express  merely  a  pious  aspir- 
ation and  not  like  the  former  to  constitute  a  condition  of 
party  membership,  received  the  support  of  delegates  rt  pre- 
senting  518,000  as  against  494,000  members.  Yet  the  total 
membership  of  the  IrHependent  Labor  party,  in  large  part 
of  course  drawn  from  o  '  er  than  union  sources,  amounted 
in  that  year  to  less  than  20,000,  so  little  hold  has  theoretic 
socialism  taken  on  the  mass  of  English  workmgmen.  The 
pariiamentary  leaders  of  the  party,  while  includmg  a  far 
larger  proportion  of  declared  socialists  than  the  rank  and 
file  -  twenty-six  of  the  forty  members  in  the  1910  Parlia- 
ment  -  arc  men  trained  for  the  most  part  in  trade-umon 


vj 


•i  i 


i 


894 


SOCIALISM 


.■^".i 


■ 


and  coSperative  and  municipal  administration,  and  prone 
therefore  to  prefer  the  soHd  achievement  of  the  committee 
room  to  the  fireworks  of  the  platform.  Once  in  the  Com- 
mons, they  come  under  its  subtle  influence,  absorb  its 
traditions  of  legality  and  compromise,  feel  in  some  cases 
the  allurement  of  social  advancement.  The  tumult  of  the 
class  war  sounds  fainter  and  fainter  in  the  distance. 

To  make  cooperation  possible,  it  was  necessary  not  only 
that  one  of  the  older  parties  should  be  ready  for  it  but  that 
it  should  be  much  more  ready  for  it  than  its  rival;  tiie 
greater  the  disparity,  the  closer  would  be  the  alliance, 
the  less  the  possibility  of  the  Labor  party,  if  holding  the 
balance  of  power,  killing  Charles  to  make  James  king. 
For  the  time  at  least  the  Conservative  party  was  out  of  the 
running,  weighted  by  its  aristocratic  connections  and  its 
neglect  of  labor  demands  in  the  1900  to  1905  Parliament. 
An  able  minority,  of  which  the  "  Morning  Post "  is  the  chief 
exponent,  has  indeed  put  forward  a  comprehensive  pro- 
gramme of  social  reform  fully  as  advanced  as  the  Liberal 
demands,  but  the  vital  diflference,  that  while  the  Liberals 
proposed  to  finance  social  reform  by  taxes  resting  mainly 
on  the  rich,  the  Conservatives  could  only  look  to  protective 
taxes  falling  on  all  consumers,  has  hitherto  hampered  their 
tactics.  The  L'herals,  in  the  meantime,  were  being  driven 
more  and  more  rapidly  forward  in  the  path  of  social  reform. 
The  inroads  which  Tariff  Reform  was  making  in  town  and 
county,  with  its  alluring  promises  of  work  for  all,  made  it 
necessary  to  offer  something  more  than  the  negative  bless- 
ings of  Free  Trade,  necessary  to  grapple  with  the  evils  in 
the  distribution  of  wealth  which  ofiFset  the  advantages  in 
its  production.  The  slump  in  imperialism  that  followed  the 
close  of  the  Boer  War,  and  the  introduction  of  Chinese 
labor  into  the  Rand,  gave  the  radical  element  in  the  party 
the  upper  hand  over  the  whig.  The  tradition  of  reform 
overcame  the  tradition  of  laissez-faire,  the  spirit  prevailed 
over  the  form :  the  outraged  Manchesterian  was  speciously 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       «95 

reassured  that  the  essence  of  Liberalism  had  always  been 
nrre  the  full  development  of  individual  capacxty  and 
thaTwhTle  in  one  age  this  end  was  best  assured  by  stnkjng 
off  he  fitters  of  palernalism.  in  another  age  it  involved  the 
ritention of  tLdemocratic  state    Finally^^^^^^^^^ 
issues  that  developed  made  for  alliance.    Both  Liberals 
anSLbor  men  were  opposed  to  the  reviving  pretensions 
o?the  House  of  Lords;  both  were  traditionally  opposed  to 
miSrist  expansion,  both -in  spite  of  the  many  theo- 
^S  affinities  between  socialism  and  protection  -  could 
unte  in  defense  of  Free  Trade.    While,  therefore,  few 
Xal^  were  prepared  to  concede  such  sc^ialist^^^^^^^^^^ 
as  those  contained  in  the  Right  of  Work  Bill,  on  the  issues 
?^mediately  pressing  there  was  the  possibility  of  the 

%t  ^eTiStstf  the  first  years  of  concerted  action  seemed 
to  justify  the  Labor  party's  policy.   The  Liberal  govern- 
menf  ;^tored  the  immunity  of  trade  unions  from  sui^^ 
Tcepting  a  bill  drafted  by  the  Labor  party  m  place  of  its 
:roffidal  proiect,  granted  old-age  Pen-ns  ^  a  non- 
contributory  basis,  passed  a  miners   eight-hour  law,  pro- 
vM^  wage 'boards  to  deal  with  sweated  trades,  and  gave 
[IT  authorities  permission  to  provide  fr^   meals  for 
n^ssitous  school-children.  The  famous  Budget  of  1909. 
in  addition  to  increased  taxes  on  spirits  and  tobacxo. 
included  super-taxes  on  large  incomes,  taxes  on  the  un- 
earned  increment  of  land  and  on  undeveloped  and.  taxe 
on  mining  royalties  and  taxes  on  f  "lonopoly  v.Uie  of 
liquor  licenses;  it  provided  for  a  valuation  of  all  land,  and 
rr  ide  a  development  fund  for  the  systematic  conserva- 
"on  of  national  resources.    In  all  these    «res^he 
Labor  party  gave  the  government  steady  -PP«J;;^;;^ 
cised  many  proposals  for  not  going  fur  enough,  d^nounml 
the  foreign  policy  of  the  government  in  various  negotia- 
tion? op^ored  further  naval  expenditure,  criticised  the 
Ick  of  adequate  grappling  with  the  unemployment  pro- 


S96 


SOCIALISM 


blem,  but  never  carried  its  opposition  to  the  extreme  of 
obstruction.  In  the  election  campaign  which  followed  the 
Lords'  fateful  rejection  of  the  Budget  there  was,  in  spite  of 
a  few  three-cornered  fights  and  official  denials  of  any 
explicit  understanding,  close  cooperation  between  Liberal 
and  Labor  forces.  The  openmg  session  of  the  new  Parlia- 
ment, with  the  Liberal  government  in  office  by  the  grace 
of  Irish  and  Labor  support,  witnessed  even  closer  coalition 
than  in  the  previous  years  and  less  Labor  criticism  or 
independent  initiative. 

This  opportunist  policy  has  inevitably  roused  the  fiercest 
opposition  on  the  part  of  thoroughgoing  socialists.  Crit- 
ics ^m  is  the  socialist's  tr  ule  and  it  is  a  trade  he  finds  it  dif- 
ficult to  give  up  after  working  hours.  When  there  is  no 
capitalist  to  denounce  it  is  always  possible  to  find  a  weak- 
kneed  brother  for  practice's  sake;  no  socialist  can  be  so 
extreme  that  he  cannot  be  outdone  in  orthodoxy.  The 
Independent  Labor  man  considers  the  Fabian  a  dilettante, 
the  Social  Democrat  pours  scorn  on  the  sentimentalism  and 
half-heartedness  of  the  I.  L.  P.,  and  the  Socialist  Labor 
party  —  a  branch  of  the  American  organization  of  the 
same  name,  as  yet  weak  in  numbers  —  declares  that  "the 
history  of  the  I.  L.  P.  and  S.  D.  F.  is  one  long  tale  of  com- 
promise, treachery,  and  uncleanness." '  But  all  the  ortho- 
dox may  unite  in  denouncing  the  Labor  party.  Its  policy 
of  opportunism,  it  is  charged,  may  be  British,  but  it  is  not 
socialist.  The  constructive  statesmanship  boasted  by  the 
pariiamentary  leaders  of  the  party  is  a  mirage;  two  score 
men  among  six  hundred  can  achieve  no  real  gains;  they 
may  reason  with  the  majority,  they  may  outwit  them  on 
occasion,  but  in  the  main  must  adopt  a  give-and-take  pol- 
icy which  ties  their  hands  against  any  effective  fighting." 
The  Labor  members  should  not  kowtow  for  favors;  they 
should  resolutely  obstruct  al!  pariiamentary  proceedings 

•  Development  of  Socialism  in  Great  Britain,  p.  21. 
'  Edward  Hartley  (I.  L.  P.),  m  Justice,  July  3,  1909. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       297 

till  the  needs  of  the  starving  unemployed  and  the  sweated 
women  and  children  are  met -a  policy  put  into  practice  by 
Victor  Grayson,  the  only  member  of  the  1906  Parliament 
returned  on  a  purely  socialist  platform,  who  succeeded  m 
having  himself  suspended  by  the  Speaker  for  noisy  inter- 
ruption of  the  debates  on  the  Licensing  Bill.  It  is  useless 
for  a  Labor  party  to  attempt  to  beat  the  capitalist  poli- 
ticians at  their  own  game  of  maneuvering  and  wirepulling; 
it  is  worse  than  useless,  it  is  dangerous,  for  "when  a  social- 
ist essays  to  become  a  politician  he  is  on  the  short  line  to 
hell  "'    The  failure  of  the  Labor  party  to  adopt  a  pro- 
gramme, ils  mere  hand-to-mouth  policy,  its  virtual  control 
by  the  T    Hiamentary  junta,  make  any  consistent  advance 
to  socialism  impossible.   The  party,  indeed,  showed  signs 
of  vigor  and  inc'ependence  in  the  first  session  of  the  Par- 
liament of  1906,  but  it  speedily  relapsed.  The  Labor  alli- 
ance has  proved  Labor  dominance.  The  fear  of  mjuring  the 
susceptibilities  of  non-socialist  trade  unionists  paralyzed 
the  activities  of  the  socialist  members  of  the  party  m  the 
Commons,  while  the  Hendersons  and  Shax;kletons  arid 
Hodges  never  pretended  to  be  anything  more  than  trade 
unionists,  men  of  Liberal  and  radical  antecedents,  cursed, 
many  of  them,  with  a  Nonconformist  conscience  and  the 
fetichism  of  the  teetotaler,  and  likely  at  a  crisis  to  '  go 
Liberal"  as  Grant  Allen's  cultivated  negro  "went  Fanti. 

Nor.  it  is  claimed,  did  the  party  even  mr''.e  a  good  bar- 
gain when  it  sold  itself  hand  and  foot  to  th.  liberals  It 
accepted  with  enthusiasm  a  budget  which,  so  fa-  from 
being  socialistic,  threw  ten  times  as  much  fresh  taxation 
on  the  working  class  as  on  the  landlords."  By  its  support 
of  the  Licensing  Bill  it  lost  the  sympathy  of  the  working- 

»  Victor  Grayson.  International  fiocialist  Rerhw,  March.  1909.  p.  667. 
In  the  January.  1910.  election  this  brand  was  plucked  from  the  burning 
by  his  considerate  former  constituents.  f  w    loin  ^  AM 

«  H.  M.  Hyndman,  International  Socialist  Review.  Feb..  1910.  p.  888. 

•  Ibid.,  Oct..  1909,  p.  352. 


«l 


tl 


298 


SOCIALISM 


V  %) 


man,  who  likes  his  nightly  half-and-half.  Its  partisan 
defense  of  free  trade  alienated  the  masses,  w  ho  were  turn- 
ing toward  protection,  while  its  opposition  to  naval  ex- 
pansion and  minimizing  of  the  German  scare  proved  its 
utter  unfitness  to  become  a  national  party.'  By  indis- 
criminately supporting  Liberal  measures  it  undermined  its 
own  prestige,  committed  political  suicide;  the  result  was 
seen  in  the  f^U  of  the  number  of  Labor  members  in  the 
House  from  fifty-three  —  including  Liberal-Labor  —  to 
forty  in  the  new.  In  short,  "the  Labor  party  in  England 
to-day  is  the  greate3t  obstacle  to  socialist  progress."  * 

So  much  for  the  criticism  directed  against  the  Labor 
party's  policy.  But  there  are  other  critics  who  go  further 
and  attack  its  composition.  A  purely  trade-union  party, 
it  is  claimed,  even  if  converted  to  socialism  could  not  suf- 
fice for  the  task  of  overthrowing  capitalism.  A  trade 
union  fails  to  reach  the  unorganized  millions,  who  out- 
number the  organized  five  to  one.  There  is  no  room  in  it, 
on  the  other  hand,  for  the  middle-class  socialist,  for  the 
men  "just  one  remove  from  the  artisan,  who  scorn  mem- 
bership in  a  trade  union  and  resent  being  n.ixed  up  with  a 
Labor  party."  '  Even  the  socialist,  it  appears,  has  his  streak 
of  snobbery.  The  arrangement  by  which  the  party  is 
financed,  each  union  and  socialist  organization  affiliated 
paying  an  amount  equivalent  to  twopence  p)er  head  a 
year,  was  hailed  at  the  outset  as  a  triumph  of  socialist 
diplomacy;  the  trade  unions  were  to  provide  the  cash 
and  the  socialists  would  furnish  the  candidates  and  the 
policy.  But  the  unions  which  pay  the  piper  have  insisted 
on  calling  the  tune:  "in  the  Labor  movement,  money 
talks,"  and  only  those  candidates  of  clastic  conscience  who 
are  willing  to  toe  the  Labor  line  can  obtain  a  nomination.* 


t-v- 


. '  I 


'  Cf.  Robt.  Blatchford  in  The  Clarion  and  Daihj  Mail,  1909-10. 
'  II.  M.  Hyndman,  International  Socialiit  Rcricv},  Oct.,  1909,  p.  353. 
'  Keir  Ilardie,  Afp  Confi-sgion  of  Faith  in  the  Labor  Alliance. 
*  AVh:    igr.  Jt;!!i-  10,  1009. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       909 

The  natural  consequence  is  incompetent  leadership.  "The 
comparative  failure  of  the  Labor  representatives  in  the 
House  of  Commons."  declares  Mr.  Blatchford.  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  they  are  workingmen.  It  is  not  lack  of  intel- 
lect nor  lack  of  courage  nor  lack  of  knowledge  which 
palsies  the  Labor  group.  With  one  or  two  natural  aristo- 
crats to  lead  them,  all  would  be  well." 

Faced  by  these  criticisms,  aud  by  the  action  to  which 
criticism  has  led.  -  secession  of  branches  of  the  1. 1..  ^.. 
resignation  of  members  of  its  national  executive,  the 
establishment  of  an  independent  socialist  representation 
committee.  -  the  position  of  the  socialist  leaders  who  still 
adhere  to  the  policy  of  Labor  alliance  and  Labor  party 
opportunism  is  an  uneasy  one.  Still  more  senous  compli- 
cations have  been  introduced  by  the  judicial  decision  in 
the  Osborne  case,  which  prohibits  the  use  of  union  funds 
to  support  parliamentary  representatives  to  whose  opin- 
ions a  minority  of  the  union  members  are  opposed,  and 
thus  strikes  at  the  financial  basis  of  the  alliance.    The 
movement,  howeves  is  too  firmly  based  in  economic  con- 
ditions and  national  character  to  be  easily  overturned     It 
does  not  seem  probable  that  the  Labor  party  will  be 
wrecked  either  by  internal  dissension  or  by judicia  decis- 
ions.  Whether  the  reconstructe(!  party,  subordmating  its 
socialist  ideals,  will  continue  its  policy  of  piecemeal  reform 
and  cooperation  with  the  Liberals,  or  v.A\  become  more 
doctrinaire,  only  time  can  tell.   So  far  as  may  be  judged 
while  the  nation  is  apparently  on  the  threshold  of  fresh 
extensions  of  state  power,  there  seems  little  likelihood  of 
a  revolutionary  socialism  gaining  more  than  the  scanty 
*oothold  it  now  possesses  in  Britain. 

In  the  United  States  organized  socialism  has  found  it 
even  more  difficult  to  obtain  a  footing  than  in  the  Lnited 
Kingdom.    Until  of  late  years  few  of  the  economic  and 
1  Cited  by  Keir  Bardie  in  Labor  Leader.  April  30.  1909. 


^\ 


'  1 


800 


SOCIAUSM 


I 


m 


m 
=i«i 


l*i^ 


-!  • 


political  conditions  existed  which  have  bred  socialism  in 
the  older  world.  With  half  of  a  virgin  continent  to  exploit, 
dazzling  prizes  were  assured  for  the  few  and  a  high  average 
of  comfort  for  the  many.  Frontier  conditions  and  the 
natural  selection  of  immigration  developed  individualism 
to  the  full.  The  mobility  of  labor  hindered  the  formation 
of  class  ties.  The  free  land  of  the  West  assured  alternative 
employment  and  high  wages.  The  great  preponderance 
of  farmers,  for  the  most  part  owners  of  the  land  they 
worked,  made  radicalism  possible  but  collectivism  incred- 
ible. A  universal  public-school  system  assured  a  fairly  even 
start  in  the  race.  Even  when  discontent  arose,  its  organ- 
ization and  expression  were  extremely  difficult.  The  size 
of  the  country  made  against  nation-wide  agitation.  Racial 
diversity  and  jealousy  prevented  the  development  of  a 
common  class  consciousness.  The  negro  danger  in  the 
South  solidified  the  white  population  and  silenced  social 
discussion.  The  political  environment  was  equally  unfav- 
orable. Universal  suffrage  and  freedom  of  speech  and 
association  gave  disaflectior  ready  outlet,  but  prevented  it 
attaining  the  explosive  force  that  follows  repression.  The 
constitution,  while  in  reality,  with  its  elaborate  checks  and 
counter-checks  and  division  of  authority,  its  lack  of  the 
concentrated  power  and  responsibility  of  the  cabinet 
system,  its  enthroned  judiciary  and  its  amendment-proof 
rigidity,  one  of  the  least  democratic  in  the  western  world, 
was  surrounded  by  a  Fourth-of-July  halo  which  awed 
criticism,  socialist  and  other,  and  persuaded  the  people 
they  were  fortunate  above  all  other  men  in  their  free 
institutions.  Nor  was  the  party  system  of  the  politicians 
of  the  day  more  favorable  for  the  socialist  than  the 
constitution  of  the  statesmen  of  1787.  Nowhere  is  it  so 
difficult  for  a  third  party  to  develop  as  in  the  United 
States.  The  two-party  habit  is  firmly  rooted  in  tradition. 
The  popular  dislike  of  throwing  away  i  vote  deters  all 
but  the  most  earnest  from  aiding  a  struggling  third  party. 


I! 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       801 

Above  all.  politics  has  become  a  business  in  which  elabo- 
rate organization  and  a  fat  bank  account  give  tremendous 
advantage:  the  spoils  at  the  victors'  disposal  have  made 
organization  worth  the  politician's  while,  the  multiplicity 
of  offices  for  which  the  bewildered  elector  is  forced  to 
choose  candidates  makes  organization  uecessary  and  inevit- 
able. Against  the  two  powerful  party  machines  the  ama- 
teur is  heavily  handicapped. 

Yet  of  late  years  the  socialist  has  found  more  cause  for 
hope.    Industry  is  concentrated  in  ever  huger  combina- 
tions, vital  national  resources  are  monopolized,  wealth 
beyond  the  dreams  of  earlier  avarice  b  heaped  m  single 
hands,  fraud  and  corruption  are  revealed  m  the  reahns 
of  high  miance,  easily  gotten  gains  are  flaunted  m  raw 
barbaric  display.    The  poverty  of  Naples  and  Warsaw 
is  transplanted  to  New  York  and  Chicago.  Free  land  and 
the  frontier  vanish;  for  the  future.  "America  is  here  or 
nowh-re  "  The  evils  of  child  labor,  of  slum  mortality,  of 
uncompensated  accident  stir  revolt.  In  years  of  low  prices 
the  farmer  groans  under  the  weight  of  mortgages;  when 
prices  Mar  and  the  farmer  buys  his  motor-car,  the  con- 
sumer, forced  to  economies  which  go  against  the  grain, 
vents  his  indiscriminate  wrath  on  the  middleman,  the 
trusts,  or  "the  System."  The  trade  unionist,  faced  with 
embattled  employers'  associations  and  hostile  court  decis- 
ions which  cripple  every  activity,  is  led  to  look  to  political 
action  for  protection.^    The  German  immigrant,  t..e  Jew 
and  the  Finn,  spread  the  socialism  of  Europe.  The  muck- 
raker  develops  a  vaguer,  more  diffused  socialistic  senti- 
ment among  the  native-born.  The  socialist  is  fam  to  be- 
lieve his  day  is  dawning.  _      xu  *  •*  •= 
In  view  of  these  conditions  it  is  not  surpnsmg  that  it  is 
only  of  late  that  organized  socialism  has  made  any  head- 
way in  the  United  States.  Its  development  has  been  slow 
i  Cf.  Kennedy,  "SocialisUc  Tendencies  in  American  Trade-Union^" 
Jound  of  Pditicd  Economy,  xvi,  p.  470. 


sot 


SOCIALISM 


&^ 


and  checkered.  The  early  Utopian  communities  have 
nearly  all  disappeared,  leaving  little  trace  in  American 
life  and  few  links  with  the  later  socialist  movement. 
Until  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  American  social- 
ism was  an  imported  product.  Its  adherents  were  almost 
entirely  German  immigrants,  fighting  their  Old  World 
battles  in  the  New.  The  unripeness  of  the  times,  ignor- 
ance of  American  conditions,  barriers  of  speech  and  tradi- 
tion, prevented  their  gaining  wide  adherence;  socialism 
remained  the  doctrine  of  a  few  scattered  faithful,  with  the 
consequent  doctrinaire  purism  and  proneness  to  dissension 
of  the  clique.  In  the  early  fifties  Weitlmg  organized  a  short- 
lived Workingmen's  League.  The  Tumvereine  or  Gym- 
nastic Unions  developed  socialistic  tendencies  which  did 
not  siu-vive  the  Civil  War  upheaval.  The  International 
found  brief  popularity  and  its  formal  dissolution  in  the 
United  States.  It  was  not  until  the  middle  o!  the  seventies 
that  an  organization  was  developed  destined  to  any  degree 
of  permanence,  the  W^orkingmen's  party,  established  in 
1876  on  a  soimd  Marxian  programme,  and  in  the  following 
year  re-named  the  Socialist  Labor  party.  For  the  next 
twenty  years  the  Socialist  Labor  party  was  the  chief  organ 
of  socialism.  Its  political  activity  alternated  between  un- 
official alliance  with  the  Greenback  and  Single-Tax  move- 
ment and  independent  action;  in  its  first  presidential 
campaign,  in  1892,  it  secured  21,000  votes;  at  the  height  of 
its  power,  in  1898,  it  polled  82,000  votes.  Its  main  efforts 
were  directed  toward  converting  the  trade  and  labor 
unions,  and,  that  endeavor  failing,  toward  fighting  and  de- 
nouncing the  existing  union  organizations  and  attempting 
to  create  a  union  movement  subsidiary  to  the  party. ^  The 

'  "The  climax  of  hatred  toward  the  'pure  and  simple'  trade  unions 
was  expressed  in  the  following  resolu-ions  adopted  by  a  practically 
unanimous  vote  in  the  1900  convention:  'If  any  member  of  the  Socialist 
Labor  party  accepts  oflSce  in  a  pure  and  simple  trade  or  labor  organiza- 
tion), he  shall  be  considered  antagonistically  inclined  toward  the  Socialist 
Litbor  party  and  sbatl  be  expelled.  If  any  officer  of  a  pure  and  simple 


siv:w;T^.'^^njc' 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       SOS 

lack  of  success  in  either  the  political  or  economic  field 
stimulated  the  growth  of  anarchism  in  its  ranks,  and  it 
was  not  until  the  collapse  of  the  anarchist  agitation  after 
the  Haymarket  tragedy  that  the  discordant  elements  were 
subdued.  Dissensions  were  never  ending,  intolerance 
more  than  ecclesiastical,  and  dogmatic  purism  mcreased; 
critics  of  the  men  in  control  of  the  highly  centrahzed 
organization  were  branded  as  fakirs  and  traitors.  Finally, 
in  1901,  dissentient  factions  united  to  form  the  Sociahst 
party,  which  has  increasingly  supplanted  the  Sociahst 
Labor  party  as  the  chief  exponent  of  socialist  views  m  the 

United  States.  *    u  „    „„ 

The   twentieth   century    sociahst    movement   has   an 
American  rank  and  file,  middle-class  leaders  and  an  in- 
creasinglv    opportunist    programme.     Socialism    m    the 
United  States  has  ceased  to  be  exotic;  while  the  G-rman 
and  Finnish  and  Jewisli  elements  are  still  prominent,  the 
recent  growth  has  been  mainly  among  the  native-born.  It 
has  ceased  to  be  purely  a  movement  of  manual  workers; 
the  leaders  are  usually  men  of  liberal  education  and  pro- 
fessional  oc-upation,  while  the  middle-class  representation 
in  the  ranks  is  increasing.  Its  policy  is  increasingly  oppor- 
iunist,  although  it  has  not  yet  been  transformed  into  a 
mere  radical  reform  party.   The  universal  opposition  be- 
tween  the  revolutionary  and  the  constructive  wings  is 
resulting  in  the  United  States  in  the  P-ad"«!,.y^7^,^^ 
the  latter  element;  the  superior  political  ability  of  the 
editors,   lawyers,   ministers,    professional    lecturers    and 
o^nTzerslo  lead  the  reformist  forces,  the  astuteness 
of  Victor  Berger,  the  eloquence  of  Spargo,  the  keenness 
and  fairmindedness  of  Hillquit  and  Stcdmau.  the  .^'tj>/ 
Thompson,  the  editorial  experience  of  J^  and  .imon», 
the  heavy  Marxian  batteries  of  Untermann  and  Lewis. 

E  p  to^f  i£ tlumn.  of  th.e  party  organ.  The  Peovie,  pas3.m. 


804 


SOCIALISM 


m 


^^1 

':t^^/Z 

■■  ':'i 

f- 

k  ,,  ■   ,-  - 

the  incisive  force  of  Hunter,  give  advantage  in  shepherd- 
ing the  rank  and  file  and  maneuvering  in  party  conven- 
tions. The  force  of  the  opposition,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
somewhat  weakened  by  the  attraction  which  the  Socialist 
Labor  party,  declining  in  numbers  but  not  in  revolutionary 
zeal,  exerts  upon  the  impossibilists.  The  personnel  shifts: 
the  revolutionaries  of  one  convention  may  be  the  tamest 
of  reformers  at  the  next,  but  new  exponents  of  the  extreme 
views  are  thrown  up  by  the  surge  of  economic  struggle 
and  the  conflict  goes  on  unceasingly.  ^ 

The  opposition  between  the  two  wings  comes  out  clearly 
in  determining  the  attitude  taken  toward  organized  labor. 
The  root  and  branch  men  are  all  for  denoimcing  the  craft 
unionism  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  as  "organ- 
ized inter-trade  scabbery,"  a  selfish,  reactionary,  and  hope- 
less endeavor  to  make  peace  with  capitalism.  In  its  stead 
they  exalt  industrial  unionism,  strong  in  organization 
because  including  not  merely  the  members  of  a  single 
narrow  craft  but  all  the  workers  in  an  industry,  be  it  min- 
ing or  metal-working  or  transportation;  socialist  in  spirit, 
replacing  the  division  of  interest  between  skilled  and  un- 
skilled by  the  common  consciousness  of  class;  revolution- 
ary in  aim,  looking,  like  French  syndicalism,  to  the  taking- 
over  of  the  entire  management  of  industry  by  the  unions, 
without  the  intervention  of  the  overworked  state.  While 
American  unionists  are  being  forced  by  the  growing  in- 
tegration of  industry  and  the  aggressiveness  of  employers' 
associations  to  close  up  their  ranks  and  merge  or  federate 
closely  connected  trades,  the  great  majority  refuse  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  the  theory  of  revolutionary  industrial 
unionism  or  with  the  practice  of  its  chief  exponent,  the 
Industrial  Workers  of  the  World,  an  organization  which 

a  byword  for  factionalism  and  ineffectiveness.    The 


IS 


opportunist  wing  of  the  Socialist  party,  accordingly,  de- 

'  Cf.  Hoxie.  "Convention  of  the  Socialist  Party,"  Journal  qf  Pdiiioal 
Econovty,  xvi,  p.  4ii, 


^j»;/  limm^ii^i^^im, 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       808 

cUnes  to  antagonize  the  powerful  legions  of  trade  unionism 
by  taking  a  stand  in  favor  of  the  industrial  union.   The 
clash  of  opinion  leads  to  such  ostrich  devices  as  the  adop- 
tion  in   official   references   of   the  non-committal   term 
"labor  organizations."^   The  same  reluctance  of  the  one 
side  to  offend  the  unionist  forces  and  the  same  determina- 
tion of  the  other  to  stick  to  principles  at  any  cost  shape 
the  discussion  over  the  immigration  problem.   Should  the 
Socialist  party  back  up  the  almost  unanimous  demand 
of  the  trade  unions  for  Asiatic  exclusion  and  their  grow- 
mg  hostility  to  European  immigration?    The  traditional 
socialist  position  has  been  to  take  no  count  of  national 
boundary  lines;  to  the  Marxian  socialist  the  proletarian 
class  the  worid  over  is  one  in  its  enmity  to  international 
capitalism;  to  the  sentimental  socialist  the  brotherhood 
of  man  forbids  race  antagonism:  love  and  hate  meet  in 
extremes.   Theoretical  orthodoxy  is  strengthened  by  the 
apprehension  of  the  foreign-l>orn  members  of  the  party 
that  Asiatic  exclusion  is  only  the  prelude  to  Russian  or 
Italian  exclusion.   The  opportunist  gives  little  weight  to 
such  considerations;  he  knows  that  while  "Marx  has  been 
dead  for  twenty-five  years,"  the  Socialist  party  which 
stands  for  unrestricted  Oriental  immigration  will  fare 
disastrously  in  the  political  campaign  with  "every  work- 
man who  has  carried  a  card  oprosmg  you  at  every  turn 

and  in  every  way." ' 

The  farmer  is  another  source  of  contention.  The  reform- 
ist element  adoptsthe  logic  of  a  party  on  the  make :  a  major- 
ity of  votes  must  be  won;  no  majority  can  be  won  in  the 
United  States  without  the  aid  of  the  farmer;  the  aid  of  the 
farmer  is  not  to  be  secured  by  proposals  of  land  national- 
ization; therefore  Mahomet  must  go  to  the  mountain,  the 
Socialist  party  must  assure  the  farmer  that  he  will  be  left 

»  C(.  Proceedings  of  the  National  Convention  of  the  Socialist  Party, 
1908,  p.  30,  and  debate,  pp.  0S-10«. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  1«1- 


%  jr:iasL  ^^s^iimcmx^m-iAi^^ 


808 


SOCIALISM 


F^ 


-  -i 


his  little  farm  and  indeed  made  the  more  secure  in  its 
possciuion  by  the  nationulization  of  the  transportation  and 
machinery  monojiolies  which  threaten  his  indeiiendence. 
The  orthodox  ex|K)se  the  casuistry  of  the  attempt  to  make 
out  that  private  ownership  of  small  farms  is  really  not 
private  ownership,  —  "When  is  a  capitalist  not  acapitalist? 
When  his  vote  is  needed  by  the  socialist  statesmen  from 
Milwaukee,"  —  and  urge  renewed  endeavors  to  nvince 
the  farmer  that  the  inevitable  socialization  of  an  .ae  land 
of  the  country  will  be  to  his  advantage.  The  contest  be- 
tween the  two  tendencies  in  the  party  is  close  and  keen: 
in  the  1908  convention  the  majority  report  of  the  Farmers* 
Committee  declaring  that,  "as  for  the  ownership  of  t!.e 
land  by  the  small  farmers,  it  is  not  essential  to  the  socialist 
programme  that  any  farmer  shall  be  dispossessed  of  the 
lond  which  he  himself  occupies  and  tills,"  was  rejected  two 
to  one  in  favor  of  the  minority  re{x>rt  insisting  "that  any 
attempt  to  pledge  to  the  fn-  ler  anything  but  a  complete 
socialization  of  the  industries  of  the  nation  isunsocialistic." ' 
In  1908  a  referendum  of  the  party  members  reversed  this 
action,  dtoiding  by  a  decisive  majority  to  nn^i*  'roni  the 
programme  the  demand  for  the  collective  ownersnip  of  all 
land. 

The  opportunist  trend  is  seen  at  its  height  in  the  form- 
ulation of  the  immediate  demands.  The  programme  in- 
cludes proposals  for  relief  works  for  the  unemployed  — 
based  on  the  fallacy  that  the  mere  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  employers  is  suflScient  to  banish  unemployment  — 
and  calls  for  the  collective  ownership  of  railroads,  tele- 
graphs, telephones,  and  steamship  lines,  of  mines,  oil-wells, 
forests,  and  water-power,  of  reforested  timber  land  and 
reclaimed  swamp  land,  and  of  national  industries  at  th^ 
monopoly  stage.  This  extensive  state  socialist  pro- 
gramme, which  might  be  indorsed  in  its  entirety  by  a  Ger- 
man bureaucrat,  doubtless  would  appeal  more  favorably 
>  Proceedingi  of  the  Niitional  Convention  of  the  SocudUt  Party,  1908,  y .  178. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       807 

!,t,t  olT  "au«.s  -imply  mtcra.c  improvements  ,eeu  >h1 
"  tlvo^alTby  „o„:»K-iaU»t  reformer,  i,>  the  In.ted 
Sta^lMdlewhere.  A  shorter  work-day  and  »ork-week. 
?mt"efctTve  in„KKtion  o(  workshop,  and  tact.,ne„  - 
her^nS  ng  .evolutionary.  A  noteworthy  mclteatton  of 
IhrXneL  toward  immediate  pr«:tieahility  .,  the  ado,, 
tan  of  Iten  rather  than  eighteen  a,  the  mm.mum  age 
rmnloymT^tforehild«.n/ while ffisn«rekian«,mpnl,ory 

i„«"g.insl  nnemployment,  illness,  aecrfent.  mvahd- 
■rXage^na  death  ^^:''^jZ:£Zt 
ranTdTrirs.^r-.ti;rSta.e  m^^^ 

•      .    „»;♦  until  wp  eet  socialism,  and  if  we  are  going 
t  "If  we  are  RoinR  to  wait  until  wp  get  so.  ^^^ 

a  while -when  the  child  is  completely  ru,n«^.  ^„ 

Contra:"lnsteado|put^^^^^^^^^^ 

our  cnerg.es  into  getting  '«'^.'»"*'"  j  •  ^^  t  all  the  votes  we 
diate  demands.  .  .  •  I  ''™;"  '^^^^  ISiate  demands.  (Applause.) 
possibly  can  on  sociahsm  """J  "«^  °"^;™^  movement  among  socialists 
I  know  we  have  in  this  ™""^  ^  ^jf'^^'Jf/^-.n  ^,i  them.  ...  1  hold 

.ho  a^  -»-^t  wIst^rgetrsL  sL:  iS  power  that  it  will  be 
that  whenever  the  Soc.aiisi  pa.v.    k  ,  .        j  ^  ^,ji 

able  to  do  something  of  Pepnen^^^jefi  to^he  ^  .rk.ng  ^  ^^^^  ^^  ^^ 
be  able  to  get  socialism  and  not  '«»«>«  '^te  '^»  ^^„  ^^^  ^  italist 

are  not  sufficiently  ^\«'" V^!rT„w  llv  wtat  S  wish  to  allow  so  as 
class  will  be  in  contro  «"'   -1^7,,  f  ^J.  407_m  «09-*10. 
to  prolong  the  present  sysUm.    -  iOul..  pp.  xu. 


308 


SOCIALISM 


If^ 


\  - 


If  ;-f 


referendum  of  Switzerland,  the  proportional  representation 
of  Belgium,  the  single  chamber  of  Greece,  the  powerlessness 
—  or  reluctance  —  of  the  German  courts  to  declare  laws 
unconstitutional,  the  independent  department  of  labor  of 
Canada,  the  power  of  the  people  of  Australia  to  amend 
their  constitution  by  a  majority  vote,  it  might  make  the 
practice  of  electing  judges  by  the  people  for  short  terms 
universal,  and  still  be  as  far  from  the  collective  common- 
weal i.h  as  ever;  the  march  of  democracy  might  be  made 
more  rapid  but  its  murch  in  a  socialist  direction  no  less 
problematical  than  before.  A  fitting  end  to  what  in  the 
socialist  vocabulary  is  termed  a  "fly-paper  platform"  is 
furnished  by  the  verbal  concession  to  the  revolutionarj' 
wing  that  "such  measures  of  relief  as  we  are  able  to  force 
from  capitalism  are  but  a  preparation  of  the  workers  to 
seize  the  whole  power  of  government,  in  order  that  they 
may  thereby  lay  hold  of  the  whole  system  of  industry  and 
thus  come  to  their  rightful  inheritance." 

The  socialist  agitation  will  undoubtedly  influence  and 
strengthen  the  tendency  to  extend  state  power  in  order 
to  cope  with  the  evils  of  unregulated  industry.  That  the 
people  of  the  United  States  will  ever  be  induced  to  abandon 
private  ownership  and  individual  initiative  as  the  funda- 
mental basi:.  of  their  industrial  institutions,  that  in  weari- 
ness of  the  struggle  to  curb  the  ills  while  preserving  the 
incomparable  advantages  of  the  existing  order  they  will 
adopt  the  desperate  remedy  of  collectivism,  there  is  little 
likelihood.  Nor  is  it  probable,  in  spite  of  the  present  con- 
fusion in  Republican  and  Democratic  ranks,  that  a  power- 
ful socialist  party  will  arise;  the  old-line  parties  share  with 
the  institution  of  pr. /ate  property  disappointing  poten- 
tialities of  adaptation  and  renewed  vitality.  Socialist 
success  at  the  polls  involves  many  an  "  if";  if  the  progress- 
ive elements  of  both  the  Republican  and  the  Democratic 
parties  failed  to  gain  control,  if  tariff  exactions,  mono- 
polization of  natural  resources,  financial  fraud  t       anti- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT 


309 


union  court  decisions  went  on  unchecked   if  the  oppor^ 

tunist  sociaUst  remained  in  control,  if  a  leader  could  be 

ound  magnetic  enough  to  strike  the  nation^,  imaginatioa 

rd  sane  enough  to  win  its  confidence  the  Socxahst  pa^y 

Height  hope  for  success.  But  -- ^"^^  ^^f '  ^  '  1  bv 
the  udhe^nce  of  millions  ol  hah-I.eHvJ.d  alhes.  bound  by 
concessions  to  the  trade  i.v  uu.t,  to  th<  farmer,  and  to  the 
Lu  business  man.  an.  ..nUoiled  b,  P^^^f-^'.^^^^^ 
at  la^  the  Red  Flag,  or  rattier  -L.;  aeucately  pmk-tmted 
fll  ^bot  th:t>^^^^^^^^  it  would  find  its  most  strenu- 
ous opposition  from  a  party  of  steadfast,  proletanan.  un- 
reconstructed, pure  and  simple  socialists. 

In  the  northern  half  of  the  continent  socialism  has  found 
still  less  foothold.  Canada  is  not  yet  as  advanced  m  mdus- 
rial  development  as  the  United  States;  agy>culture  dom- 
inates.   Widespread  poverty  is  unknown;  the  gates  of  op- 
portunity are  o^en  wide.  The  poweroftheCathohc Church 
TQuebL  erec\:  a  solio  barrier  in  the  path  o    socialism 
The  cabinet  system  inherited  from  Bntam  and  the  party 
n^achTne  adopted  from    the  United  States  both   make 
Taint  group  politics.   Only  in  recent  years,  with  growmg 
Sgrarion'from  continental  Europe  and  with  growing 
industrial   complexity,  has   the    movement   gained   any 
strength.   Winnipeg  has  a  strong  socialist  element  in  its 
motley  foreign  quarter.  Toronto,  Montreal.  Cape  Breton 
Td  a  few  other  industrial  anu  mining  centres  have  small 
coteries,  but  it  is  only  in  British  Columbia  that  socialisra 
haT  developed  any  political  importance.    In  the  Pacific 
p^vince  th^  comparative  weakness  of  the  farmmg  class 
the  prevalence  of  mining  and  other  industries  requiring 
arge  scale  capitalist  investment,  the  discontent  of  failui^ 
in  tl^e  last  and  farthest  west,  the  influence  of  American  and 
English  socialism,  combined  with  aggressive  leadership. 
We  given  rise  to  a  socialism  of  thoroughgmng  Maman 
orthodoxy,  and  have  enabled  the  party  to  po  1  one  fifth  of 
ti;  pLincial  vote.   Even  in  British  Columbia,  however. 


■i  ; 
i  1 


ri\-: 


SOCIALISM 
810  , 

T     t       of  the  varied  form  and  strength  socialism  has 

In  face  ^^  ^^«  J'^J^^^  ^^^j^^^i  environments,  specula- 

attamed  m  the  f  ff^^"' °^    ;  .  ^    world-wide  movement 

tion  as  to  the  ^"f/^^J^^';  Jf^e^^^^  considerations.  One 

„.ust  be  confined  to  t^^^^^^^^  g-        .^^^^^  .^  „,,  ^.^es- 

point  js  clear:  tt«;"[^^^^^°^^^  ^{  ,^ialist  parties;  a  large 
sarily  bound  up  with  the  success^  ^.^^^^^^ 

installment  of  ^--^^^  ^^f  ^^^^^^^^^^  labeled  socialist, 
the  intervention  of  a  ?f/'^f^l^l,,  ,o  transformed 
and  a  socialist  party  might  come  to  po  ^^^  ^ 

and  modified  as  to  have  lost  Its  r^ht  to  the  n^^  ^^ 

tional  an  J -tX^T^^^^^^^  prLte  property 

Umit,  yet  there  is  every  •  w    ^ureof  our  western 

-"TZ  t  r rur^ttt  Pa,,t,  It  wm  survive 
Civilization.   In  the  tu  ur  ^Yyauermg  its  scope  and 

becau.se  of  its  P-^d^^'^^^^^^^^^^  '^^^  ^pon  it.  regulated 
its  attributes  as  new  demands  are  ma       P  ^^.^^.^ 

by  state  '^--^'^^^.Z.'^^^Z^^^^^ 
bytheextensionofjoint-st^^ow  P        ^^^^^^^^  ^^ 

trade-union    sharing  "I   '^^^^j^  ^ense  of  the  trustee- 
employment  mora^-ed  by  the  grow^g    ^^.^^.^^  .^ 

,hip  of  ^f^^^lZ^M  present  situation  given 
concerned,  the  b"ei  revi  considered, 

shows  the  comp  exity  ^\'l^J^Xre  the  door  of  eco- 
Where  industrialism  ^^^I'^'-^l^^^"!!,^,^^  repression  is 
nomic  opportunity  '^  ^^'^^'^^^^^Zry  group 
the  policy  of  the  f  ^te.  wh^^^^^^^^  .^  ^^^^^^,^^ 


THE  MODERN  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT       SU 

ment    where  de-  ocratic  reform  makes  steady  progress, 
whereclbinet  go^  ornment  prevails  or  the  two  party  system 
Ts  strongly  entrenched,  where  clerical  opposition  or  racml 
divsTon  opposes  barriers,  the  socialist  movement  ,s  hkely 
r^weak    Growth  in  political  strength,  agam.  bnngs 
moderation,  stress  on  immediate  betterment,  appeals  to 
The  w  der  classes  whose  support  is  needed  for  parhament- 
ary  victory.  Yet.  while  the  main  trend  ..  toward  oppor- 
t7nilm  and  acceptance  of  the  existing  order,  there  always 
Jir  sTs.  within  or  without  the  ranks  of  the  organized  party 
rmbority  who  cling  to  the  straitest  doctrines  of  the  schoo 
anTwS  with  inextinguishable  hope  for  the  dawnmfc  of 
the  day  of  revolution. 


1: 


i 

11 


'■^-S 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Of  the  making  of  books  on  sociaUsm  there  is  no  end.  The  lUt  of  references 
given  below  is  suggested  as  including  the  most  important  anc  most  easUy 
iccessible  works  on  the  various  phases  of  the  movement    The  pamphlets 
and  periodicals  issued  by  the  party  organizations  m  the  different  coun. 
tries  are  indispensable  for  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  contemporary 
developments.   In  Germany  special  reference  may  Ik;  made  to  the  week  y 
organ  of  the  orthodox  wing.  "  Die  Neue  Zeit "  (Stuttgart)  the  fortnightly 
reformist  pubhcation,  "  Socialistische  Monatshefte    iBerhn)^^  among 
the  seventy-odd  socialist  dailies  of  Germany   "  \  orwUrts     (B«^  "»)  ^  ^^- 
Bul»  also  the  extensive  catalogue  of  books  and  paiuphlols  issued  by  BucH- 
handlung  Vorwarts.  Berlin.  S.  W.  68.  Lindenstr.  09.  The  Re.chsverband 
aegen  die  Sozialdemokratie  and  the  political  parties  opposed  to  sociaUsm. 
publish  many  campaign  documents.   For  France,  attention  should  be 
riven  the  reformist  monthly.  "  La  revue  soc.ahs-e.    and  the  syndical^t 
monthly.  "  Le  mouvement  socialiste" ;  the  weekly  organ  o  Guesdism.    Le 
Socialisme."  and  the  party  official  publication,  "Le  Sociahste  ;,theanarj 
SHyndicalist "  La  guerre  sociale."  and  the  daily.  "  Lllumanite     edited 
by  Jaur^s;  pamphleU  may  be  procured  from  the  Libraine  du  Parti  So- 
dHUste.l6ruede  la  Corderie.  16.  Paris.  InGreatBnta.n  the  most  im^^^^^^ 
antpublication8arethe"SocialistReview."themonlhly.andthe    Labor 
Leader."  the  weekly,  organs  of  the  I.  L.  P.;  the  S.  D.  P.  weekly     Justice 
and  Blatchford's  "Clarion";  the  Christian  bociahst  ""^^^^y-J^^^"^' 
monwealth."  and  the  "Fabian  News";  both  the  I.  L.  P.and  the  S.  D.  P.. 
Stain   publishing   departments,  in  Manchester  ana  London  resp^t- 
ivelv    The  Anti-socialist  Union  of  Great  Bntain.  38.  Victoria  St.,  Lon- 
don S  W..  publishes  a  monthly.  "Liberty."  and  numerous  pamphlets 
Fo^he  raited  States,  use  may  be  made  of  the  "  International  boc.ahst 
Review"  monthly.  Chicago;  the  weekly  "Appeal  to  Reason,  ^..rard, 
KansaT  and  "Social-Democratic  Herald."   Milwaukee;  the ''Chicago 
DaSy liocillist"  and  the  "New  York  CaU"  (dail>\,Charles  Kerr  and 
Company    Chicago,  the  Wilshire  Book  Company.  New  \ork.  and  the 
Sst  Party  H^dquarters.  Chicago,  are  the  chief  Amencan  publisher, 
dsSSistboJks  and  pamphleU.  For  references  to  the  literature  on  the 
L^less  social  topics  bearing  indirectly  on  socialism,  the  genei^l  reader 
Su  find  most  help  in  BUss.  "New    Encyclopedia  of  Social  Re  orm 
New  York,  1908.  and  in  the  carefully  annotated  b|bl.ography.    Guide  to 
R^dLlg  in  So<;ial  Ethics  and  AUied  Subjects."  Harvard  Umvenaty. 
Cambridge.  1910. 


S14 


BIBUOGRAPHY 


■  y.\.  , 


Chapteb  I.  Gknebal  Works 
1.  Non-partuan  expositions;  Kirkup  and  SombaH  are  ttpecially  tym,- 
■pathetic  and  comprehensive  in  their  treatment: 
Ely,  Socialism  and  Social  Reform.   New  York,  1804. 
KiBKUP,  A  History  of  Socialism,  4th  edition.  London,  1908. 
Rae,  Contemporary  Socialism,  3d  edition.   London,  1901. 
ScHAFFLE,  The  Quintessence  of  Socialism.  London,  1889. 
SoBiBABT,  Socialism  and  the  Social  Movement.   New  York,  1909. 
Stoddabt.  The  New  Socialism.  London,  1909. 

S.  Exporition  and  argument  from  socialist  point  of  new: 
Blatchfobd,  ivlerrie  England.  London,  1893. 

Britain  for  the  British.   London,  190*. 
Cohen,  Socialism  for  Students.    New  York.  1910. 
Fabian  Essays.  London,  1890. 
Fabian  Tracts,  1-136.   London,  1907. 
Febbi,  Socialism  and  Positive  Science.   London,  1903. 
HiLLQL'iT,  Socialism  in  Theory  and  Practice.   New  York.  1809. 
Kelly,  Twentieth  Century  Socialism.   New  York,  1910. 
Macdonald,  Socialism.   London,  1907. 

Socialism  and  Society.   London,  1907. 
MoBBis  and  Bax,  Socialism:  iU  growth  and  outcome.  London.  1897. 
Sfaboo,  Socialism.   New  York,  1906. 

The  Socialists:  who  they  are  and  what  they  stand  for.  Chi- 
cago, 1906. 
Tuoan-Babanow8KT,  Modem  Socialism  in  its  historical  development. 

London.  1910. 
Wellb.  New  Worlds  for  Old.  New  York.  1908. 

S.  Exvosition  and  criticism  f'om  anti-socialist  point  of  new: 
C^.thbein-Gettlemann,  Socialism.   New  York.  1904. 
Elqee  and  Raine,  The  Case  against  Socialism.   London,  1908. 
Flint.  So<'ialism.   London,  1894. 
Gbaham.  Socialism  New  and  Old.   London,  1907. 
GuYOT,  Socialistic  Fallacies.   New  York,  19' 0. 
LEBOY-BEAULiEt',  Collectivism.  New  York,  1908. 
Le  Rossionol,  Orthodox  Socialism:  a  Criticism.  New  York,  1907. 
Mackay,  Plea  for  Liberty.   London,  1892. 
Mallock,  a  Critical  Examination  of  SociaUsm.  London,  1908. 

Chapteb  IL  The  Socialist  Indictment 

Bbooks.  The  Social  Unrest.   New  York,  1905. 
Call.  The  Concentration  of  Wealth.  Boston,  1907. 
Cbiozza-Monet.  Riches  and  Poverty.  7th  edition.  London,  1908. 


BIBUOGRAPHY 


sia 


3 


Enoku,  Condition  of  the  Working  Class  in  England  in  1844.  London, 

1802. 
Gbent.  Mass  and  Class.  New  York,  1904. 
GoHBB.  Three  Months  in  a  Workshop.  London, 
HoBSON.  The  Social  Problem.  London,  1901. 
Hunter,  Poverty.  New  York.  1907. 
Ladoff,  American  Pauperism.  Chicago. 
Meter,  Great  American  Fortunes.  Chicago,  1910. 
Rauschenbus  -,  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis.  New  York,  1908. 
Reeve,  The  Cost  of  Competition.  New  York,  1906. 
Vbblbn,  Theory  of  Business  Enterprise.  New  York,  1904. 

Chapter  IIL  The  Socialist  Indictment  Considehxo 

BoSANQUvr,  Aspects  of  the  Social  Problem.  London,  1898. 

Civilization  of  Christendom.  London,  1893. 
GiLUAN,  Socialism  and  the  American  Spirit.  London,  1893. 
Ibeson.  The  People's  Progress.   London,  1909. 
Ladqhun.  SociaUsm  a  Philosophy  of  Failure.  Scribner'i  Magazine, 
xlv. 

Large  Fortunes.    Atlantic  Monthly,  xcvi. 
Leboy-Beauueu,  The  Modem  State.  London,  1891. 

La  Repartition  de  la  Richesse.  Paris,  1888. 
Mau<OCK,  Labour  and  the  Popular  Welfare.  London,  1893. 
Classes  and  Masses.   London,  1896. 
Aristocracy  and  Evolution.  London,  1901. 
Stracaey,  Problems  and  Perils  of  Socialism.  London,  1908. 
Sumner,  What  Social  Classes  owe  to  each  other.  New  York,  1884. 

Chaptek  IV.  Utopian  Sociausm 

Utopian  loureei: 

More,  Utopia.  Ed.  Arber,  London,  1869. 

Campanelua,  City  of  the  Sun,  1 

Bacon,  The  New  Atlantis,       >•  in  Ideal  Co;;  nonwealths, 

Harrington,  Oceana,  )  edited  by  I.Iorley.    London,  1885. 

Mably,  De  la  Legislation.   Paris.  1776. 

Morellt,  Code  de  la  Nature.  Paris,  1755. 

Godwin,  Enquiry  concerning  Pohtical  Justice.  London,  1793. 

On  Property.  (Book  viii  of  preceding  work.)  London,  1890. 
Babeup,  La  Doctrine  des  figaux.  Edited  by  Thomas.  Paris,  1906. 
Owen,  New  View  of  Society.  London,  1816. 
New  Moral  World.  London,  1834-41. 
Fourier,  Thterie  de  I'UnitS  universelle.  2d  edition.  Paris,  1838. 

Le  Nouveau  Monde  industriel  et  societaire.  3d  edition.  Paris, 

1848. 
Selections  from  Fourier.  Edited  by  Gide.  London,  1901. 
Con8Id£bant,  Destinee  sociale.  Paris,  r  36-38. 


-Vir- 


^r:^^^?\ity:!^^^0'^T^■ 


'Y: 


'j: 


TP'f"^. 


816 


BIBUOGRAPHY 


London, 


Saint-Simon,  (Euvres  de  Saint-Simon  et  d'Enfantin.  Paria,  1885-78. 
Bazabd,  Exposition  de  la  doctrine  de  Saint-Simon.  Paris,  1830-Sl. 
Pbcqoeub.  Des  ameliorations  materielles  dana  leura  rapporU  avec  la 

Ubert6.  Paris,  1889.  . 

ViDAL.  De  la  r^artition  des  richesses  et  de  U  jusUce  dutnbuUve. 

Paris,  1846.  .  „    .,  .      »  LI      -J-.- 

Wkitlino,  Garantien  der  Hannonie  und  Freiheit.  Jubilee  ediUon. 

Berlin,  1908. 
Blanc,  L'Organisation  du  travail.  Paris,  1889. 
Pboudhon,  What  ia  Property?  Boston,  1876. 

Commentaries:  ,....•      t     j       i<uui 

Babkeb,  Political  Thought  of  Plato  and  AnstoUe.  London.  1900. 
Bax,  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  AnabaptUts.  London,  1908. 
Booth,  Saint-Simon  and  Saint-Simoniam.  London.  1871. 
BouBoiN,  Proudhon.  Paris,  1901. 
BcoNABOTTi,  History  of  Babeuf's  Conspiracy  for  EquaUty. 

1836 
DiEBL,  Proudhon:  seine  Lehre  und  sein  Leben.   1888-90. 
Ely,  French  and  German  Socialism.    New  York,  1898. 
FouBNifcBE.  Les  theories  socialistes  au  xix«  sitele:  de  Babeuf  &  Proud- 
hon. Paris,  1904.  „    ■    ,«VT 
Guthrie,  Socialism  before  the  French  Revolution.   New  York.  1907. 
Janet,  Les  Origines  du  socialisme  contemporain.  Paris,  1883. 

Saint-Simon,  et  le  Saint-Siraonisme.  Paris,  1878. 
Kadtskt,  Die  Vorliiufer  des  neueren  Sozialismus.  2d  edition.  Stutt- 
gart, 1909. 
Thomas  More  und  seine  Utopie.  Stuttgart,  1907. 
Lichtenberoeb,  Le  Socialisme  au  xviii*  sik;le.   Paris,  1895. 

Le  socialisme  utopique.  Paris,  1898. 
Menoeb,  The  Right  to  the  Whole  Produce  of  Labour.  London,  1899. 
Michel.  L'Idee  de  I'^tat.   Paris,  1896. 
Peixotto,  The  French  Revolution  and  Modem  French  Socialism. 

New  York,  1901. 
PoDMORE,  Robert  Owen.  London,  1906. 
Pohlmann,  Geschichte  des  antiken  Kommunismus  und  Sorialismu». 

Munich,  1893.  „      u_.  u 

Stein,  Der  Sozialismus  und  Kommunismus  des  heutigen  Frankreichs. 

Leipsic,  1848. 
ScDBE,  Histoire  du  Communisme.  Paris,  1850. 
TcHERNOFF,  Louis  Blanc.    Paris,  1904. 
Wabschaueb,  Die  Entwickelungsgeschichte  des  Sozialiimui.   Berlin, 

1909.  .  .  ,.  , 

Reybacd,  fitudes  sur  les  Reformateurs  contemporaina  ou  socialutes 

modemea.  7th  edition.  Paris,  1864. 


BIBUOGRAPHY 


817 


""trlS^^ry  of  Sociali-m  in  the  UniUd  SUte..  4th  editioo.  N«r 
York.  1906.  _. .  .^^ 

1884. 

Chaptebs  V.  VI.  VII.  The  Mabxias  Analtsm 

Contrib'uuoa  to  a  Critique  of  PoUUcal  Economy.  New  York. 

EiiSS^th  Brumaire  of  Louis  Bonaparte.  Chicago.  1907. 

Poverty  of  Philosophy.  London.  !»«>• 

Revolution  and  Counter-Revolution.  Chicago.  1907. 

Theorien  Uber  die  Mehrwert.  Stuttgart^904. 

Wage-Labour  and  Capital.   London.  1907 
Mabx  and  Engeu*.  Communist  Manifesto.    lA>ndon.  1906 
FN^wTFeuerbach:  Origins  of  the  Socialist  PhUosophy.  London.  1906. 
^  llndmarks  of  Scientitc  SociaUsm  (Anti-DUhnng).  London. 

1907. 
Origin  of  Uie  Family.  London.  1907. 
Socialism.  Utopian  and  Scientific.  London  18W. 
UanxUA  Reden  and  Schriften.  ed.  Bemstem.  Berhn,  1893. 
Open  Letter.  New  York.  1901. 

Workingman's  Programme.  New  York,  18»».  . 

Mehbino.  Aus  deXerarischen  Nachlass  von  Karl  Marx.  Fnednch 
EngeU  und  Ferdinand  Lassalle.  Stuttgart.  1904. 

Socialist  Cotrmentariet: 

Adleb.  Marx  aU  Denker.  Beriin.  1909. 

Adleb  and  Hilferdino.  Marx-Stud.en.  Vjenna.  im  ^ 

Andueb.  Le  Manifeste  Commmiiste.  mtroduct.on  et  commented. 

A^o!Se  Student's  Marx.  4th  edition.  London  1^. 
BouDiN.  Theoretical  System  of  Karl  Marx.  Chicago.  1907. 
DeviuJ!.  Principes  socialistes.  Pans.  1896. 
Htndman.  Economics  of  Sociahsm    x^ndon.  190tf. 
v^«7.rna«FrfurterProgran-ui.  8th  edition.  Stuttgart,  1907. 
^°"'''  Sa"  Mar?  J)ion?mische  Lehren.  Wtii  edition.  Stuttgart. 

Dil'S^torische  LeUtung  von  Karl  Marx.  Berlin.  1908. 


»i 


818 


BIBUOGRATHY 


Ci, 


:*?: 


I_. 


Sparoo.  Karl  Man:  Hia  Life  and  Work.  New  Yoric,  1000. 
Untebmann,  Marxian  Economics.  C'hicago.  1907. 

Critieum  by  non-iocialisU: 

AoLER,  Die  Grundlagen  der  Karl  Marxscben  Kritik  der  batehenden 

Volluwirtscbaft.  Tubingen,  1897. 
BiERMANN.  Die  WclUnDcbauung  des  Manismus.  Leipsic,  1908. 
Hammacber,  Daa  phiiooopbiiich-Ukonoiniiir^e  System  des  Marsiimiu. 

Leipaic,  1909. 
Masartk,  Die  philosophiscben  und  aociologiachen  Grurdlagen  dea 

Marxism  U8.  Vienna,  1899. 
SniKBOviTcu,  Marxism  versus  Socialism.  Political  Science  Quarterly, 

vol.  48-25,  1908-10. 
Slonimhki,  Versuch  einer  Kritik  der  Karl  Marxscben  {flconomitcheo 

Theorieen.  Berlin.  1899. 
Veblen,  The  Suoialist  Economics  of  Karl  Marx  and  bis  FoUowera. 

Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  xx,  575,  and  xxi,  i99. 

Critieum  by  revisionist  socialists: 

BfiBNiiTEiN,  Evolutionary  Socialism.  London,  1909. 

Zur  Geschichte  und  '~'heorie  des  Socialismus.  Berlin,  1001. 

Der  Revisionismus  in  der  Sozialdemokratie.  Amsterdam. 

Oppknheime!'.  Das  Grundgesea  der  Marxscben  Gesellscbaftslebre. 

Berlin,  19^^^ 
Tuoan-Barakowhkt,  Tbeoretische    Grundlagen    des    Marxismua. 

Leipsic,  1905. 
<  WEisENQBiJN,  Der  Marxismus  und  das  Wesen  der  sozialen  Frage. 
Leipsic,  1900. 
Cf.  especial]/  the  files  of  Socialistische  Monatsbefte. 

In  addition  to  tbe  above  general  discussions  of  Marxism,  the  foUoW' 
ing  special  references  are  helpful: 

On  the  materialistic  conception  of  history: 

Barth.  Die  Philosophic  der  Geschichte  als  Sociologie.  Leipsic,  1897. 

Bax,  Essays  in  Socialism,  New  and  Old.  London,  1907. 

CoBiMONS,  Class  Conflict  in  America.  American  Journal  of  Sociology, 
vol.  13. 

Kautset,  Ethics  and  the  Materialistic  Conception  of  History.  Chi- 
cago. 1907. 

Labriola,  Essays  on  the  Materialistic  Conception  of  History.  Chi- 
cago, 1904. 

Lataropb,  Le  d^terminisme  £conomique  de  Karl  Marx.  Paris,  1900. 

LcitiA,  Economic  Foundations  of  Society.  London,  1907. 

Stamuleb,  Wirtschaft  und  Recht  nacb  der  materialistischen  Ge- 
■cbichtsauffassung.  Leipsic.  1896. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  S19 

WoLTMAH.  Der  hUtorischc  Materialisms.  DUsseldorf,  1900. 
PuMT.  Philosophy  o(  History  in  Kuro[)e.   EdinbuiRh.  1874. 
0!  these  KauUky.  Labriola.  Lafargue.  and  Loria  defend  the  Marxian 
pofitioD. 

On  value  and  lurplus  talue:  .  . .    c.    »        t     a^ 

BbHy-BAWEBK.  Karl  Marx  and  the  Close  of  his  System.  London. 

1808. 
PiBCHE!    Die  Marxsche  Wcrttheorie.  Berlin.  1889. 
Lcxn.  The  Conclu.ling  Volume  of  Marx's  CupiUl.  m  Quarterly  Jour- 

nal  of  Economics,  vol.  10.  1895.  lui  „   ;„  -« 

Schmidt.  Der  dritte  Band  des  Kapitol.  Sozialpol.  Zentralblatt.  iv.  no. 

SoMBABT.  Zur  KriUk  des  okonomischen  Systems  von  Karl  Marx.  Ar- 

chiv  fur  Soziale  Gesetzgcbung.  u.  s.  w..  vii.  1894. 
VON  BoBTKiEWicz.  Wertrethnung  und  I'reisrechnung  im  Marxschen 

System   Archiv  fUr  SozialwUsenschaft  und  Sozialpohtik.  xxm-xxv. 

Cf .  especially  the  file.s  of  Die  Neue  Z«-it.  and  bibliography  by  Som- 
bart  in  Archiv  fUr  Sozialwissenschaft.  etc.,  xx.  413. 

On  the  lav)  of  capitalist  derelopment: 

Bbvkbidqe.  Unemployment:  a  Problem  of  Industry.  London.  IflOB. 
BouBOCiM,  Lessystfemessocialisteset  revolution  ^conomique.  Faru, 

1007 
David.  Sotialismus  und  Landwirtschaft:  1.  Die  Betriebsfrage.  Ben- 

lin.  1903. 
Kactsky,  Die  Agrarfrage.  Stuttgart,  1899. 

Bernstein  und  das  sozialdemokratische  Programm.  Stutt- 
gart, 1899. 
KAMPmiETEB,ZurKritikdcrMarxschen  Entwickelungslehre.  Sozial- 

istische  Monatshcfte,   1898. 
SiMOMB.  The  American  Farmer.  «d  edition.   Chicago,  190« 
VON  Stbuve,  Die  Theorie  der  sozi.ilen  Entwicktlung  bei  Karl  Marx. 

Archiv  fUr  soziale  Gcsetz.gehung.  etc.,  xiv,  1899. 
Wou.  Sozialismus  und  kapitalistische  Wirtschaftsordnung.   btutl- 
gart,  ISO-?. 

Chapteb  VIIL  The  Modebn  Sociaubt  Ideal 
AiULNTicca.  Ein  Blick  in  den  Zukunftsstaat.  1898. 
Bebxl.  Woman  under  Socialism.  New  York,  1904. 
BELI.A1JT,  Looking  Backward.   Boston,  1888. 
Gbonlcnd,  The  Cofiperative  Commonwealth.  London.  1898. 
jAUBta.  Organisation  socialiste.  Revue  socialistc,  1895-98. 
Kautskt,  The  Social  Revolution.  Chicago.  1908. 
Macponald,  Socialism  and  Government.  London,  1909. 
Mbngeb,  Neue  Staatslehrc.  3d  edition.    Jena,  1906. 


820 


BIBUOGRAPHY 


ay       I 


M onm.  Newi  from  Nowhere.    London.  18IK». 
RSMABO.  Regime  iocisluite.  Rerue  *oci»li«te.     IMT-W. 

Le  Soei»li»me  u  I'ueuvre.     Pari".  1007-  _ 

Vamdbivbujb.  CoUectivum  and  Induiitrial  Revolution.  ChicafO.  IQOI. 

KMai*  iiodalistea.     Pari*.  1906. 
ygi.ij,  A  Modern  Utopia.     London,  IWM. 

Sodaliam  and  the  Family.    London,  1907. 
Wool,  The  Soul  of  Man  under  Socialism.    Boston,  1910. 

Criiieuwu  of  loeidut  propotaU: 

CoNNEB.  The  Socialist  Stale :  iU  nature,  aim*  and  condiU<mfc  London. 

1893. 
GuTOT.  The  Tyranny  of  Socialism.     London.  1895. 
HiBscH.  Democracy  versua  Socialism.     London.  1901. 
Mackat.  editor.  A  Plea  for  Liberty.     London.  189«. 
NAguBT.  Collectivism  and  Socialism.     London.  1891. 
RiCHTKB.  Pictures  of  the  Socialist  Future.     London,  1894. 
ScHAFFL*.  The  Impossibility  of  Social  Democracy.    London,  18M. 

Cbaftkb  IX.  Tbb  Modebn  Sociaust  Movement 

Enbob.  Modem  Socialism.  Sd  edition.    New  York.  1910. 
Babdoux,  etc.  Le  Socialisme  k  letranger.    Paris.  1909. 
HtJNTEB.  Socialiiit«j  at  Work.     New  York.  1908. 
Plbchamoff.  Anarchism  and  Social!  n.    London,  1906. 

Socialism  and  Christianity:  „    ,    ,~«, 

Bubs.  New  Encyclopedia  of  Social  Reform.  New  York.  1908. 
Campbell.  Christianity  and  the  Social  Order.  London.  1907. 
CuFFOBD.  SociaUsm  and  the  Teaching  of  Christ.  Fabian  tract  no.  78, 

with  bibliography.  London,  1906. 
FoRBTTH,  Socialism,  the  Church  and  the  Poor.  London.  1908. 
Goldstein,  SociaUsm;  the  nation  of  fatherless  children.  Boston,  1903. 
Habtman,  Socialism  versus  Christianity.  Now  York,  1909. 
Kacfmann,  Chri.«tian  Socialism.  London,  1888. 
Mathews.  The  Social  Teachings  of  Jesus.   New  York,  1905. 
Ming,  The  Characteristics  and  the  Religion  of  Modern  Socialism. 

New  York,  1908. 
Nrm,  Catholic  Socialism.  New  York,  1908. 
Peabodt,  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question.   New  York,  1904. 
Racschenbcsch,  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis.   New  York.  1908. 
Stang,  Socialism  and  Christianity.  New  York.  1905. 
Westcott,  Social  Aspects  of  Christianity.  London,  1887. 
Woodwobth,  Christian  SociaUsm  in  England.  New  York.  1903. 


\h-'i 


^^t-^'A  -: 


BIBUOGRAPHY 


S2l 


Pub.  1900, 


Tht  luternatumal: 

GvihLKVum,  L'Inteni»Uon»le;  documenU  et  •ouyeniw. 

Jabcui.  The  Intcni»tioii»l.     L«MjdoD.  1906. 

Umaoabai.  UUtory  ol  the  Commune  of  1871.    London.  1888. 


"^liu  Die  So.ial.lemokr.tic  im  Deut«±en  Reichrt.g.   1811-1888. 

Berlin.  llWtt.  ,      ^       ,„„, 

BcBKBTKiN.  Penlinand  Lawalle     London.  IWW. 
Bbunhubeb.  Die  heutige  Sorialdemokrat.e.     Jena,  1900. 
Dawbom.  Hi.mar<W  and  State  Socialism.     Lon'l"°.  »»»«• 

Geruiau  S«ciali»n.  an.l  Ferdinand  La»»alle.     Ix>ndoL'.  1881. 
KAMFffiiBiBB.  Change,  in  the  Theory  and  Tactic,  of  the  Genn«i 
Social  Democracy.     Chicago.  1908. 
Die  Sozialdemokratie  im  Lichte  der  Kulturentwicke. 
lung.  Berlin,  1907. 
Kacw«.  The  Rood  t.  Power.    Chicago.  1908 
Mbhbin...  (ieachichte  der.deutschen  Sozialdemokratie.  4th  ed.  Stutt- 

MTLHM-rLH  dem.KrBlio  s^Kialiste  allcmande.     P*""'  /»»'• 
Pabvkh.  IK-r  KUs-s.nk.mpf  des  ProUluriatii.     Berlin     908-10. 
Rc«A    LixK«m.LRO.   S<./ialreform   odor   Soz.alrevolution.  «d.   ed. 

J::^;^  s!Sl.l.-mokrati.che.  Reickstags-handbuch.     BerUn  190t. 
Si«yphusarlK-it  .xl.r  positive   Erf..lge;   Generalkomm.M.on  der  G,^ 

werkschafton  Deutschlutids.     Berlin,  1910. 
a.rdS.   filr  niebt    .^zial.lemokrati.sche   Wtthler.   Reich.verUnd 
gegen  die  Sozialdemokratie.     Berlin.  1907. 

RntiRDEAi    L'6voluli(in  du  wR-ialisme.    Paris.  1301. 
Bti™u..  du  Mouvement  So^iuliste:  Laganlelle.  ejc.  ^-^-a^- 
rt  S-.i^iisme;  I'.uKel.  La  Confederation  Generale  du  T^va  1.  Sorel. 
U  Deo.:>mpoHit...n  du  Marxisme;  Gnffuelhes.  L' Action  Syndicaliste. 
ftertfa.  Les  Nouv,  aux  .\spects  du  Sijcialisme.  etc.     Pans,  1908. 
S»TT-i.r-.  Le  -.Kialisme  au  Pouvoir.     Paris.  1910. 
imTm».  Stu.nni-  in  Sfx-ialism.     New  York.  1906. 
5ssj-«,r    I,    vomtion  du  syndicalisme  en  France. 
%Saw»Eix-  ^  -vndicali.sme  contre  Ic  sociulisme. 
Mii.aM  r.  ^  Tactiqu.'  s,Kialiste.     Par,..  1905. 
M«-.S3t.--.n    1^  s..ciaiisme  rcformuste  fmngais.     ?«"«•»»"'• 
Zw«a^  i^  «.*iaUsnK  en  France  d^puis  1871.     Pans.  1908. 


Paris.  1908. 
Paris,  1907. 


f.i.u-FmsTCT.  English  Socialism  of  To-day. 
feitisU  Socialism.    London,  1908. 


London,  1908. 


iii 


BIBUOGRAPHY 


NoBL,  The  Labor  Party.    London.  1906. 

V1UJEB8,  The  Socialist  Mo\   raent  in  England,    London.  IftOa 

Webb,  Socialism  in  England.  2d  edition.    London,  1S93. 

United  States:  . 

HiLUjciT,  History  of  Socialism  in  the  United  States.  4th  edition. 

New  York.  1906. 
SwoNS.  Class  Struggles  in  America.    Chicago.  1909. 
SoMBABT,  Warum  gibt  es  im  den  Vereinigten  Staaten  keinen  Sozialis- 

mus?    Tubingen,  1906.    " 
Thoufson,  ConsUuctive  Programme  of  Socialism.    Milwaukee,  1908. 

For  each  country  the  reports  of  the  annual  or  biennial  ccngreasea. 
which  may  be  procured  from  the  party  publishers  mentioned  above,  are 
essential;  the  international  movement  is  surveyed  in  the  reports  made  to 
the  International  Congresses  by  the  national  party  secreUries,  and  in  the 
Congress  debates,  both  published  by  the  Secretariat  socialiste  iaterna> 
tional,  rue  Heyvaert,  63,  Brussels. 


i^l 


irW^ 


mmmmm 


n^m 


INDEX 


Adulteration,  charged  against  cap- 
italism, 45;  the  remedies,  51. 
Agrarian  programme  in  Germany, 
243;  in  France,  260;  in  United 
States,  306. 
AUemanists,  58. 

Alliance  of  socialists  with  bourgeois 
parties,  in  Germany,  235,  237, 
252;  in  France,  259,  262-7,  281; 
in  United  Kingdom,  294-9. 
Anabaptist  communism,  6. 
Analysis  of  capitalism,  second  as- 
pect of  socialism,  2;  Utopian,  12, 
62-75;  Marxian,  95-176;  Fabian, 
288. 
Anarchism,  relation  to  socialism, 

186,  256. 
Anseele,  14. 
Ashley,  cited,  106  n. 
Auer,  14,  278. 
Austria,  socialism  in,  282. 
Aveling,  286. 


Babeuf,  place  in  socialist  develop- 
ment, 10. 

Baden,  socialists  and  budget,  238. 

Bakunin,  186,  228. 

Ball,  John,  13;  quoted,  29. 

Ballon,  quoted.  65  n. 

Bax,  quoted,  6  n.,  217  n.;  286. 

Bebel.  14,  181,  216,  231,  243,  248, 
249,  278;  quoted,  186  n.,  191  n., 
197  n.,  236  n.,  239  n.,  240. 

Belgium,  socialism  in,  282. 

Bellamy,  182. 

Berger.  303. 

Bernstein,  136,  250;  quoted,  S3; 
cited,  167  n. 

Berth.  268. 


Besant,  Annie,  202. 
Bismarck,  280,  242  n. 
Blanc,  Louis,  place  in  socialist  de- 
velopment, 12;  on  concentration, 

155;  failure  of  projects  in  1848, 

224. 
Bland,  288. 
Blanqui,  222,  257. 
Blatchford.  290,  298  n. 
Bodin,  101. 
Bogart,  quoted.  162  n. 
Biihm-Bawerk,  117,  121,  132. 
Bom,  224. 
Boudin,  108, 176  n.;  quoted,  120  n., 

136  n. 
Boulanger,  259. 

Bourguin,  167  n.,  171  n.,  197  n. 
Bray,  71  n. 

Bright,  25. 

Broussists,  268. 

Brunhuber,  quoted,  238  n.,  244. 

Buckle,  101, 104. 

Budget,  socialist  attitude  toward, 
237. 

Bullock,  cited,  158  n. 

Buonarroti,  222. 

Bums,  286. 


Cabet,  82;  quoted,  64. 

Calwer,  quoted,    179  n. 

Campanella,  7. 

Campaign  against  capitalism, 
fourth  aspect  of  socialism,  3; 
Utopian,  12,  86-94;  modern,  13, 
220-311. 

Canada,  socialism  in,  309. 

Capital,  constant  and  variable,  126, 
131,  138;  social  functions  recog- 
nized, 209. 

CapiUlism,  antithesis  of  socialism. 


324 


INDEX 


-I 


1-8;  nineteenth  century  develop- 
ment, 11;  indictment  against. 
£1-40;  indictment  against  con- 
sidered, 41-61 ;  Utopian  analysis 
of,  62-75;  Marxian  analysis  of, 
95-176. 

Carlyle,  quoted,  24  n. 

Carpenter,  216. 

Cathrein,quoted,19  n.;cited.  247  n. 

Centralization  of  wealth,  168-166. 

Champion,  286. 

Chiozza-Money,  quoted.  84,  153. 

Christianity,  communism  in  primi- 
tive, 5;  and  discontent.  19;  and 
socialism,  in  Germany.  246;  in 
United  Kingdom.  290. 

Churchill,  quoted,  185  n. 

City  and  discontent,  19. 

Clark,  J.  B..  cited,  139  n. 

Clarke.  Wm.,  288. 

Class  struggle,  in  Marxian  theory, 
101,  107-114,  174. 

Class  and  political  party,  in  Ger- 
many, 244;  in  France,  273;  in 
United  Kingdom,  292  n.,  298;  in 
United  States,  308. 

Comb^  bloc,  265. 

Commission  government,  194. 

Communism  of  Babeuf  and  Cabet, 
82;  standard  of  distribution,  202. 

Community  experimenta,  89-94. 

Compensation  or  expropriation, 
182,  210. 

Compfere-Morel,  quoted,  260  n. 

Competition,  evil  effecU  charged, 
on  production  of  goods,  22-29, 
on  condition  of  workers,  29-40; 
social  utility  of,  42-46;  regula- 
tion, 46-59;  moral  effect,  59. 

Concentration  of  industry,  155- 
163. 

Confederation  g^n^rale  du  travail, 
268-280. 

Consid^rant.  66-89,  155. 

Consumption,  saner  standards  nec- 
essary, 59. 

Cooperation,  15,  89,  227,  240.  255. 

CriuB,  count  in  socialist  indictment. 


25;  place  in  Marxian  theory,  166- 
171. 
Croce,  123  n. 

Danger  to  workmen,  32. 

Davenport,  116  n. 

David,  quoted,  154;  cited,  159  n., 
161. 

Decay  of  old  ties  and  discontent,  17. 

Definition  of  socialism,  1. 

Delesalle,  268. 

Demand  and  supply,  lack  of  ad- 
justment charged,  25;  how  ad- 
justment effected,  44. 

Democracy  and  discontent,  17. 

DeviUe,  171. 

Diderot,  63. 

Discontent,  its  causes,  16-21;  es- 
sential to  progress,  61. 

Distribution  of  wealth,  unfaimesa 
charged,  34;  charge  considered, 
68;  in  Fourier's  scheme,  79;  in 
Saint-Simonist  ideal.  81;  stand- 
ards proposed  to-day,  201-207; 
how  effected,  207. 

Dreyfus  affair,  262. 

Duma  abolishes  communal  land 
holding,  45. 

EflBciency,  how  maintained  under 
socialism,  209. 

Eltzbacher,  cited,  256. 

Ely,  quoted,  214  n. 

Emerick,  cited,  162  n. 

Employer,  oppression  charged,  30; 
betterment  activities,  53. 

Engels,  on  value,  122;  on  agricul- 
ture, 159;  on  crisis,  168-171;  en 
money,  198;  in  1848  uprising,  Hi ; 
quoted,  indictment,  35,  37,  38; 
on  materialistic  conception  of 
history,  97-99,  102  n.,  108  n.;  on 
services  of  Marx,  115;  on  disap- 
pearance of  state,  185;  on  distri- 
bution, 205;  on  class  war  in  Eng- 
land, 223  n.,  283;  on  agriculture, 
261;  on  S.  D.  F.,  286;  on  Fabiana. 
287. 


m^r-is^S^yi 


INDEX 


825 


Environment,  importance  in  Uto- 
pian theory,  64. 
Erfurt  programme,  164  n. ;  238,  «45 . 
Exaggeration  in  socialist  indictment. 

41.  ^      . 

ExploiUtionof  consumers,  touner, 

67;  of  worliingmen,  Founer,  68, 

Samt-Simon.  71,  Marx.  1«6. 
Expropriation  or  compensation  of 

capiuUsta.  18«.  «10. 


Fabbri.  186  n. 
Fabian  socialism,  287,  290. 
Family,  under  socialism,  216. 
Farmer  and  concentration,   169- 
16S;  and  socialism,  in  Germany, 
24S;  in  France,  260;  in  United 
States,  306. 
Fatalism  in  Marxism.  221. 
Ferri,  14. 
Feuerbach,  78. 
Fisher,  quoted,  87. 
Fourier,   11;  analysis,  66-70,  74; 
ideal  76-80,  84;  tactics,  86-94. 
France.  Utopian  socialism  in,  62- 
94;  modem  movement  in,  252- 
g82;  environment,  252;  groups, 
857;    reformist   drift,    258-267; 
syndicalism,    267-280;    present 
tendencies,  280-282. 
Fraud,  commercial,  25;  financial, 
27;  remedies,  61. 

General  strike,  277-279. 

Germany,  socialbt  movement  in, 
229-262;  characteristics,  229;  op- 
posing parties,  231;  evolution  in 
tactics,  232-238;  in  aims,  238- 
251;  outlook,  251. 

Ghent,  quoted.  26  n.,  32;  cited.  162. 

Oilman,  Charlotte,  quoted,  25  n. 

Gehre,  quoted,  38  n. 

Goldscheid,  cited,  178  n. 

Gonner.  quoted.  116  n. 

Gracchi.  4.  , 

Graft,  charged  against  capitaLam. 

26. 
Graham.  205. 


Grayson.  297. 

Gritfuelhes,  268.  270.  271;  quoted. 

278. 
Gronlund,  182. 
Guesde,  14,  257-267.  271.  272.  278, 

281. 

Hardie.  quoted.  30;  211.  219. 
Harrison,  quoted,  SO  n. 
Haywood,  40. 

Hegel,  theory  of  development.  9»- 
97;  influence  on  Marxism,  101, 
113-114,  174. 
Heine.  248. 
Herv6,  249,  279,  281. 
Hillquit,  quoted,  93,  186.  198  n., 

202  n.,  213,  302. 
History,    Fourier's    view    of.    68; 
Saint-Simon's,     72;     nineteenth 
century  attitude,  95;  materialis- 
tic conception  of,  95-114. 
Hobson,  quoted,  37;  citec    139  n. 
Holland,  socialism  in,  282. 
Housing,  conditions  of  the  masses. 
35;   improvement   in    England, 
149. 
Hoxie.  cited,  304  n. 
Hyndman,  14,  287  n. 


Ideal  organizations  of  society,  third 
aspect  of  socialism,  2;  Utopian. 
12,  76-86;  modem,  177-219. 
Immigration,    American    socialist 

attitude  toward,  305. 
Independent  Labor  Party,  United 

Kingdom,  290. 
Indictment  of  capitalism,  first  m- 
pect  of  socialism,  2;  stated,  22- 
40;  considered,  41-60. 
Individual  initiative,  its  importance. 
43,  212;  does  not  involve  isola- 
tion, 43;  nor  industrial  anarchy, 
44;   not    sole   force   in   existing 
order,  47. 
Industrial  reserve  army,  140-143; 

revolution,  3,  15. 
Industry,   concentration  of,   150" 
163. 


S^6 


INDEX 


Insurance,  workingmen's,  53.  «42  n.   Lilburae.  8. 


International  Workingmen's  Asso- 
ciation. iiG-iiS. 
Italy,  socialism  in,  282. 

Jaeckh,  quoted.  227  n. 


Jaures.  U.  238,  262-282;  quoted, 
192,  221  n. 

Kampffmeyer,  cited,  176  n. 
Kautsky,  on  increasing  misery,  131 ; 
on  details  of  ideal,  180;  on  van 


Lollards,  6. 

Mably.  10. 

Macdonald,  quoted,  217  n.;  201. 

Machiavelli,  quoted,  103. 


Machine  discipline  and  socialism, 
20;  relation  to  unemployment, 
57. 
Mann.  286. 
Marriage,  in  Fourier's  plan,  79;  at- 

u  ucirnis  ".  .-.-".,  — '. titude  of  modem  socialism,  216. 

e"y"(rf"^'iaTist"organiza'tion,  i87;{Marx,  shaping  influences,  13;  ser- 
on  money  under  socialism,  197;  1      vice  to  socialism,  13;  picture  of 


on  increase  of  production,  209;  j 
on  militarism,  219;  loader  of  anti-  ] 
revisionist   forces,  250;  quoted, 
7, 102, 103, 112  n.,  123, 221 ;  cited, 
139  n.,  158  n..  184  n.,  201  n., 
242  n. 

Kerr,  May  Walden,  quoted,  38  n. 

Kingsley,  290. 

Komorzynski,     quoted,     12C     n., 
cited,  133  n. 

Kritchewsky,  quoted,  250. 

Labor  movement  inentable,   15; 
theory  of  value,  116-136;  party 
in  England,  291-299. 
Labriola,  Antonio,  cited  108  n. 
Labriola,  Arturo,  268. 
Lagardelle,  268. 

Lassalle,   14;  iron  law  of  wages, 
143-144;  224;  230;  231;  240;  241; 
248;  quoted,  18  n. 
Lecky,  cited,  5  n. 
Ledebour,  249. 
Lee,  303. 
Leone,  268. 

Leroy-Beaulieu.  cited,  44  n..  129  n. 
Levellers,  6. 
Lewis,  303. 
Lexis,  133. 

Liberty  under  socialism,  215. 
Lichtenberger,  cited,  9  n. 
Liebknecht,  Karl,  249. 
Liebknecht.  Wilhelm.  14.  224,  231. 
293,  233,  236  n. 


factory   c^^ls,    33;   materialistic 
conception   of  history,   95-114; 
theory    of    value    and    surplus 
value'.  115-136;  law  of  capitalist 
development.  137-176;  summary 
of  ani-.lysis.  172;  theory  crumb- 
ling,   174;   relation   to  classical 
economi<-s,   172,   175;  weakness 
on  constructive  side,  177;  atti- 
tude to  the  State,  185;  advocacy 
of  labor  notes,  197;  stondard  of 
distribution,  202,  205;  place  in 
development  of  socialist  move- 
ment, 221;  revolution,  222;  the 
International,  228;  coBperation. 
240;   doctrine  in   France,   253; 
claimed    by    syndicalists,    275; 
stereotyped    by    S.    D.    P.    in 
United  Kingdom,  285;  and  the 
British  Labor  party,  292  n. 
Masarjk,  quoted,  112  n. 
Materialistic  conception  of  historj', 

95-114. 
Maurice.  290. 
Mazzini.  228. 
Meade,  quoted,  28  n. 
Menger,  cited,  10  n. 
Meslier,  9. 
1  Michels,  268. 

Middle  class,    alleged    disappear- 
ance of,  163-166. 
Middleman,  attacked,  23,  87;  at- 
tack on,  considered,  60;  and  sta- 
tistician, 211. 


ib 


m^ 


m^^M. 


INDEX 


827 


Militarism,  Gennan  sociaUst  atti-  j 

tude.  «47;  French,  «70.  | 

MiUerand.  «58.  262,  263.  1 

Mill,  on  competition,  23. 
Ming.  247  n. 

Minority,  right  to  rule,  257.  280. 
Misery,  entoiled  by  capitalism.  29; 
doctrine  of  increasing.  U6-15-1. 
Monotony  of  factory  labor,  31.  50. 
Moral  effecU  of  capitalism,  37,  69. 

More.  Utopia,  beginning  of  modem 
socialism,  7. 

Morelly,  9. 

Morgan.  J.  E..  quoted.  40. 

Morgan,  quoted.  103. 

Morris,  16.  26.  286;  quoted,  217  n 

Mortality  of  workers,  37,  149. 

MUnster,  6. 

Nansen,  quoted.  103. 
Nature,  beneficent  design,  63. 
Noske,  249. 
Noyes,  quoted,  90,  91. 


Olivier.  288. 

Oppenheimer.  cited,  135  n. 
Owen.  11;  analysis.  62.  64,  05,  66, 

74;  ideal.  76.  80,  85;  movement, 

89,  91.  92. 

Panacea  for  capitalistic  ills,  see 
Ideal  organizations  of  society. 

Pariiament,  socialist  attitude,  in 
Germany,  233-238;  in  France, 
259-267;    syndicalist    attitude. 

271^.  ,     .,    , 

Passion,  place  in  Founers  ideal 
community,  77. 

Pearson,  quoted,  200  n. 

Pease,  288. 

Pecqueur,  155. 

Pelloutier,  268. 

Phalanx.  Fourier's  unit  of  organiza- 
tion. 76-80. 

Plato,  ideal  communism.  3. 

Population,  difficulties  in  socialist 
state,  218. 

PossibilisU,  in  France,  258. 


Pouget.  268. 

Poverty,  under  capitalism,  84;  m- 
dictment  considered.  38. 

Private  property,  indicted,  22-40; 
based  on  social  utility,  45;  stimu- 
lus to  production,  212. 

Profit,  and  social  gain,  22;  source 
in  surplus  value,  120;  in  coopera- 
tive labor,  129;  not  proportional 
to  variable  capital,  131. 

Propaganda  facilities,  and  increase 
of  discontent,  21. 

Proudhon,  transition  to  scientific 
socialism,  12;  influence  in  Inter- 
national, 228. 
Psychology  of  unrest.  16-21. 

ReformUU.  in  Germany.  250-2;  in 
France.  259-267.  275;  m  United 
Kingdom.  Fabir.n3. 288-290.  La- 
bor party,  292-299;  in  United 
States,  303-309. 
Reforms,  attitude  of  socialisU,  m 
Germany,  238-246.  249;  in 
France,  260-261;  in  United 
Kingdom,  295;  in  United  States. 
306-8. 

Religion,  socialist  attitude  to,  240. 
I  Renard,  quoted,  196  n. 

Revisionists,  175,  250. 

Ricardo,  115. 

Robinson,  cited,  103  n. 

Roosevelt,  quoted,  28. 

Ross,  quoted,  218. 

Rousseau,  8. 

Ruskin,  26. 


Saint-Simon,  11;  transitional  posi- 
tion, 70;  advance  made  by  his 
schwl.71;  analysis  of  capital- 
ism, 71,  74;  view  of  history,  72; 
organization  of  industry.  81. 

Scandinavia,  socialism  in,  282. 

Schaffle,  181,  205. 

Schippel,  242,  243.  246  n..  248. 

Schuster.  222. 

Seligman.  101. 103. 

Shaw.  G.  B..  183,  2^ 


.;iJf.:vMfe ,  .;.^-'  =Jir, 


S28 


INDEX 


'/*i  ■■ 


Simkhovitch.  IM  n. 

SimoM.  86.  159.  168,  18«.  1»1  n.. 
803. 

Singer.  28«.  «8«. 

Smith.  Adam.  «8,  48.  65. 

Snowden.  «91. 

Social  Democratic  party,  m  United 
Kingdom.  886-287. 

SomUrt.!**.  133  n..  148  n..  168. 

Sorel.  468. 

Spargo.  quoted.  106.  IW.  308. 

Stadthagen.  «49. 

State,  principles  of  action,  47;  pro- 
tection for  workers.  63;  r61e  in 
organiiation  of  socialist  society. 

185. 

Stedman.  303. 

Stimulus  to  productivity  under 
aocialbm.  21«-«14. 

Surplus  value,  source.  IM;  connec- 
tion with  labor-value  theory.l«7; 
untenability  of  doctrine.  127- 
180;  inconsistency.  130-134;  im- 
portance in  Marxian  sy8tem,lS4- 

136.  ,„ 

Syndicalism,  its  ideal  of  future.  188 ; 
definition.  267;  causes  of  growth. 
268;  relation  to  other  movements, 
269;  constructive  policy.  274; 
general  strike.  277;  anti-militar- 
bm,  279;  effect  on  socialist  move- 
ment in  France.  280. 

Tactics,  fourth  aspect  of  socialism, 
3;  Utopian.  86-94;  change  to 
greater  aggressiveness,  220;  fatal- 
ism, 221;  force.  222;  Interna- 
tional organization,  227;  national 
development,  228-311. 

Taff  Vale  decision,  291. 

Taxation,  confiscatory,  184. 

Thompson,  71  n. 

Tugan-Baranowsky,  104,  107,  170 

n.,  171. 
Turati,  14. 

Unemployment,    charged    against 
capiUlism,  83;  and  machinery. 


57;  insunince  against.  55. 14«ii.; 
effect  of  industrial  reserve  army. 

Union  organiiation  as  aid  to  woric- 
ingmsn.  54;  attitude  of  German 
socialism.  240-2;  of  French  so- 
cialism and  syndicalism,  269. 
274-280;  of  British  socialism. 
491;     of     American    socialism. 

304. 
United  Kingdom,  socialism  in.  i»2-- 
299;  environment.  288;  Social 
Democratic  party,  285;  Fabians. 
287;  Independent  Labor  party, 
290;  Labor  party,  291.  ^^ 

United  SUtes,  socialism  m,  ^ 
808;  forces  making  against,  299. 
and  for.  801;  development.  301; 
present  opportunism,  303-8;  out- 
look. 308. 
Unrest,  its  causes.  16-21. 
Untermann,  122,  303. 
Utopian  schemes  of  PUto.  8;  of 
More.  7;  of  eighteenth  century 
French  writers,  8;  analysis.  62- 
73,  75;  ideal,  76;  tactics,  persua- 
sion and  experiment,  86-94. 


Vaillant,  257,  264. 

Value,  Marx's  Ubor  theory  sUted. 
115-117;  criticism,  117-121;  at- 
tempted reinterpretetions,  121- 
5;  and  surplus  value.  127. 

Vanderxelde.  14. 158  n..  183  n..  198, 

213.  278. 
Veblen,  quoted.  13  n..  20,  27.46. 

63.  100,  HI,  128,  140.  163  n.. 
249. 
VoUmar.  von,  248. 

Wages,  Marxian  theory  of,  126; 
Lassalle's  iron  law.  143;  and  m- 
dustrial  reserve  army.  144;  un- 
der socialism.  200-207;  under 
present  system,  207. 

Wage-slavery,  charged  against  cap- 
italism. 30;  considered.  62;  caa- 
ditions  under  socialism,  211. 


mr* 


INDEX 


S29 


Waldeck-Rouaaeau.  9M. 
Wallas,  288. 
Waste,  competitive,  tt. 
Wealth,  centralization,  168. 
Weatherly,  quoted,  10  n. 
Webb.  39.  186  n.,  403.  888. 


Weitling,  «««. 
WelU.  180  n.,  il7  n. 

Yvetot.  «08. 

Zetkin.  Clara,  «6». 


.'«:-.. -.'P®: 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U   •   S   .  A 


■    '-"J. 


vVilA  'fJJX^r  'lA:f^*.>{l 


&iii..A*  £;-;:' :*;.;:i>iStii^j53g^^r^?¥::i2&^£^" 


•^>  Ar..i^l!LlPiflR.,ii: 


